OPTi lawsuit means Apple has another to deal with

By Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Saturday, 20 January 2007 20:55

Home IT

Apple’s lawyers must surely be busy, for they’ve another lawsuit to deal with. This time, it’s alleged that Apple improperly used patented technology from OPTi.

Apple’s lawyers are raking in the iCash on all fronts, for now they’re being paid to deal with the latest lawsuit to grace 1 Wireless Loop in Cupertino. OPTi has claimed that three of their patents were violated by Apple.

These patents are for “Predictive Snooping of Cache Memory for Master-Initiated Accesses”, and OPTi claim they have been used in Apple’s desktop, notebook and Xserve server lines. They want a jury trial to settle the dispute.

An OPTi statement claimed that “The complaint alleges that Apple has infringed the patents by making, selling and offering for sale desktop and portable computers and servers incorporating Predictive Snooping”.

Previously OPTi has focused on chip makers rather than computer companies themselves, however online reports suggest that OPTi may have been motivated by Apple’s recent excellent financial results.

The lawsuit is very similar to one OPTi filed against AMD last November.

Apple is reported to have laughed off the Cisco lawsuit. There is no word on whether any laughing was heard in relation to this latest legal adventure.