AMD, Alliance patch up differences

AMD and Alliance Semiconductor have agreed settlement terms for AMD's patent infringement lawsuit filed in 1996. Alliance and AMD will drop their claims and counterclaims against each other and Alliance will pay AMD an undisclosed sum for past damages.

AMD had originally claimed that Alliance's flash memory devices infringed two AMD patents. AMD and Alliance will now sign a license agreement for future sales of two existing flash memory products. The two companies are now said to be discussing future joint memory projects.

"I am pleased that AMD and Alliance have been able to reverse the tide from a legal battle to a potential partnership where we can both benefit from each other's strengths," said Dr. Ritu Shrivastava, vice president of technology development and general manager of Flash Products for Alliance Semiconductor.

"Alliance... is one of the few companies in the world with expertise in all three major CMOS memory segments: SRAMs, DRAMs and flash. Our resources and energies are much better spent creating new products and markets which leverage our expertise.

"We do not believe that the settlement will have substantial impact on our flash product development strategy or the financial performance of our company."

The two AMD patents involved in the case related to methods of erasing flash memory cells that enable flash memory devices to operate from a single power supply and an architecture that enables the individual sectors in a flash memory device to be addressed without affecting the other sectors. ®