www.nanalyze.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=696

 bit of History -- June 23, 1996
Source: Bruce V. Bigelow -- You might say Woody Norris is waiting for his chip to come in.Nine years ago, the Poway inventor founded Patriot Scientific to develop his idea for a ground-penetrating radar that could be used to identify subterranean features from an aircraft. Theoretically, such a radar could be used to search for everything from deep-underground oil fields and mineral deposits to buried structures, utilities and even land mines just beneath the surface. Now a proprietary microprocessor that Patriot acquired for its radar two years ago could take the little startup company in a whole new direction.Norris, 57, says the high-speed microprocessor--named "ShBoom" after a 1954 jukebox tune--is perfect for running Java, an innovative programming language for the Internet designed by Sun Microsystems."The chip fits with Java like this," Norris says, holding aloft his hands with fingers dovetailed.On Wall Street, investors have likewise embraced the idea.On May 17, the price of stock in Patriot Scientific hit a record $4.03 per share on the Nasdaq electronic exchange--almost 26 times its year-ago price of 15 cents per share. Last week, the stock hovered at about $3 trading on an average volume of roughly 230,000 shares a day. Yet, the ShBoom processor's compatibility with Java was completely unforeseen--and unintended.'A bluebird'"One of my partners would refer to this as 'a bluebird,'" says Willis E. Higgins, a Palo Alto patent attorney who represents Patriot. "It's something that just comes along. A stroke of luck."The ShBoom processor was conceived more than a decade ago by Charles Moore, who invented the "Fourth" programming language for computers, and Russell H. Fish III, a computer consultant and chip designer.After years of working on the project, Fish and Moore sold all rights to the ShBoom processor to the late Helmut Falk, a Romanian-born engineer who co-founded DH Technology, a high-technology printer manufacturer now based in San Diego.By several accounts, Falk poured millions of dollars into improving the ShBoom design through NanoTronics, his wholly owned company based in Eagle Point, Ore.Falk was not known among executives at San Diego electronic firms. But business partners described him as a savvy businessman and world traveler who owned estates in San Diego, Oregon, Costa Rica, Switzerland, Florida and Puerto Rico. He spoke German, French, Italian, Spanish and English.In 1994, NanoTronics merged with Patriot in a deal intended to combine Norris' radar technology with Falk's high-speed processor."We liked the idea of pairing the chip with the radar," Norris recalls.As part of the deal, Falk received 10 million shares of Patriot's stock and took over as Patriot's chairman and chief executive. Norris, who also founded Norris Communications and American Technology, says he was happy to withdraw from Patriot's day-to-day operations.Then, Falk died unexpectedly of cancer last July 6."I talked to him a few weeks before he died, and he said he really wanted to develop this chip," says Don Hebert, who co-founded DH Technology with Falk. "He thought it was going to be a hot-shot thing that nobody else had."
IMHO -- He was right. It's just that nobody wanted to pay for it.
Moore & Fish knew what they had and wrote the text body of U.S. Patent 5,809,336 in great detail, leaving no stone unturned and closing all loopholes to the best of their knowledge. Intel tried to skirt around this patent by using the pipeline technique for instruction set rather than PTSC's stack approach, yet they did use PTSC's high performance, low cost microprocessor system having a variable speed system clock. Without this fundamental element clearly patented by PTSC long before Intel or anybody else used it, there simply would not be RISC microprocessors operating above 110MHz today. That is, other than Patriots Ignite family of microprosessors.
I am not an attorney or a computer scientist, but I can discern the obvious. In light of what I have seen, no Judge will stop this case from being heard, and no jury could possibly deny the truth to PTSC's claims. There has been talk of the application and interpretation of PTSC's IP as being possibly "too broad." From what I have seen PTSC's IP has not only been infringed upon; this is a case of blatant, willful, contemplated, deliberate, DEAD NUTS grand theft. Violated on so many levels, in the highest degree. It is sad commentary of ethics in big business today when willful infringement is seen as good business. You know whatever all these collective companies pay out in damages and future royalties will not even come close to the total figure that PTSC would have realized if they rightfully received licensing fees and royalties from the beginning. The bottom line is, despite being sued, paying future royalties, court costs and legal fees...these companies still come out ahead, and they knew it from the start. The only thing that is "too broad" about this case is the level of sheer size and scope that PTSC's IP has been violated. The six companies currently standing in as defendants are just the tip of the iceberg. there will be more to come -- IBM, Motorola, AMD the list goes on and on. That could change of course if these companies start coming forward with settlements to avert costs associated with litigation and possibly gain better licensing deals from PTSC for products they already sell. I can see why the PTSC's legal team is working on contingency and seeking treble or triple damages for willful, intentional infringement.



I encourage all of those who are considering buying in, or who are already in and planning on selling out on a mere double or triple to disregard my opinion and objectively compare PTSC's patents and the fundamental building platform in which Intel and much of the industry has developed their current line of microprocessors, and if you come to the same conclusion as have I and decide to go deep for the long bomb, then I will take the liberty to quote a poster from another board ... "you can thank me later" More on Charles Moore: The founding father of the "Fourth programming language for computers" and CO-inventor Patent 5,809,336 --
http://www.colorforth.com/resume.html