Motorola legals Intel

Giant chip company Motorola is taking giant chip company Intel to court over alleged misappropriation of trade secrets related to its "Somerset" project. Its case rests on an ex-Motorola chip architect called Mark McDermott, poached by Intel last year, who subsequently poached 15 other chip designers. (Our story in September about McDermott is here.) According to the suit, McDermott enticed away 15 Motorola engineers who formerly worked on the PowerPC Somerset project, in Austin, Texas. Motorola is taking legal action to protect its intellectual property rights, it said. Intel was unable to comment at press time. ®