3Com-Realtek Settlement Replaced by $70 Million Licensing Agreement
Wade Roush7/15/08
Marlborough, MA-based 3Com and Realtek Semiconductor Corporation of Hsinchu, Taiwan, said yesterday that they’ve resolved a longstanding patent dispute over Realtek network controller chips that 3Com claimed appropriated aspects of its parallel processing technology. 3Com won a $45.3 million judgment against Realtek in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in April, but the new agreement nullifies that settlement, replacing it with a $70 million licensing payment to 3Com that will allow Realtek to continue sell chips containing the disputed technology.
Wade Roush is Xconomy's chief correspondent and editor of Xconomy San Francisco. You can e-mail him at wroush@xconomy.com or follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/wroush.
