Broadcom, a maker of high-speed communications chips, has taken
action in a Californian court, demanding that its bigger rival
Intel stops shipping or selling products that Broadcom claims are
the result of stolen trade secrets.
A spokesman for Broadcom said of the claim for a preliminary injunction: “What we want is for an order that would put Broadcom back in the position it would otherwise have enjoyed if Intel hadn’t employed Broadcom’s technology.”
Broadcom is claiming that Intel based its Media Access Controller (MAC) and Gigabit Ethernet Physical Layer Interface products on confidential Broadcom chips that Intel obtained from a third party. It says in its lawsuit that Intel’s products would have been delayed by months or even years had it not stolen the designs of Broadcom. It also alleges that “smoking-gun e-mails” and testimony from Intel employees portray the world’s largest chip maker as “attempting to play ‘catch-up’ by any means necessary.”
The claim is another step in ongoing legal action between the rival companies. Intel sued Broadcom in August for allegedly copying Intel technology.
Intel has been cleared by the US Federal Trade Commission over allegations of anti-competitive practices after it decided that no action is necessary. Compaq and two other companies had accused Intel of effectively holding the companies to ransom over the release of crucial information they needed to carry on their businesses.
