June 7, 2005
Patriot Scientific and TPL Group Unify Portfolio of Fundamental Microprocessor Patents
|
|
|
Parties End Ownership Litigation
TPL Group to Manage Licensing Program
SAN DIEGO, June 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In a move that will expedite
the licensing of a series of fundamental microprocessor patents that are at
the heart of a global $200 billion-plus microprocessor end-use market,
intellectual properties firms Patriot Scientific (OTC Bulletin Board: PTSC)
and The TPL Group announced today an agreement to unify their interests in key
microprocessor patents originally filed in 1989 and granted in 1998. Under
the terms of this agreement, The TPL Group is granted full responsibility and
authority for the commercialization and licensing of the unified patents
portfolio.
This significant joint accord ends years of litigation between Patriot
Scientific and The TPL Group over title to the patents. Previously, each
corporation had licensed these core technology patents separately. Earlier
this year Patriot Scientific had successfully licensed this core technology to
AMD (NYSE: AMD). Under terms of this new agreement, Patriot Scientific and
TPL will receive certain payments in addition to sharing in future revenues
generated by a licensing program exclusively implemented by TPL.
This ten-patent portfolio contains core building blocks for today's
microprocessor implementation and architecture. Editor of the Gilder
Technology Report, Dr. Nick Tredennick, named a Fellow of the IEEE for his
contributions to microprocessor design, said, "Chuck Moore's architectural
insight is impressive. Over fifteen years ago he conceived designs that appear
to be fundamental to modern microprocessor design," adding, "it is likely that
a broad range of today's microprocessor-based products rely on concepts
described in these patents."
Roger Cook, a senior patent litigator with the highly regarded law firm of
Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP, has been instrumental in licensing the
portfolio to one of the world's pre-eminent microprocessor manufacturers.
Cook said, "This portfolio appears to be a patent litigator's dream."
TPL and Patriot believe at least three of the ten patents are elemental to
virtually every microprocessor design. The three most significant of these
patents are as follows:
* U.S. 5,809,336: Clocking CPU and I/O Separately
* U.S. 6,598,148: Use of Multiple Cores and Embedded Memory
* U.S. 5,784,584: Multiple Instruction Fetch
Both The TPL Group and Patriot Scientific believe these now-unified
patents, which were granted in 1998 and which don't expire until 2015, have
long been essential to the design of modern high-speed microprocessors. These
now-allied firms are now in position to maximize the value of this patent
portfolio. Global sales by potential licensees of products applying
technologies protected by the jointly owned patents are estimated to be
greater than $200 billion annually.
As an active intellectual property company specializing in microprocessor
technology, Patriot Scientific retains rights to make and market array
microprocessor products and technologies under its current IGNITE(TM) and
INFLAME(TM) brands, as well as a range of other products and technologies not
utilizing the patents covered by this new agreement.
"This accord represents an important milestone for our company," said Jeff
Wallin, president and CEO of Patriot Scientific. "This agreement replaces
costly ongoing litigation with a win-win scenario that supports our efforts to
license and protect our company's intellectual property on a broader scale.
The TPL Group is well-positioned to aggressively license these core technology
patents, freeing Patriot Scientific to focus on our equally innovative IGNITE
and INFLAME array microprocessor core technologies, as well as other
innovations currently in our development pipeline."
TPL Group Chairman Dan Leckrone, reaffirmed his company's longstanding
philosophy to encourage cooperation instead of litigation. "Since TPL began
managing intellectual property more than 15 years ago, our business strategy
has always been driven by relationship building and constructive cooperation.
Our agreement with Patriot Scientific is a good example of this strategy at
work."
The TPL Group announced that the licensing program for the patents will be
managed by Alliacense, a core group of senior TPL Group executives directly
responsible for the development and commercialization of the firm's patent
portfolios.
About The TPL Group
Founded in 1985, Cupertino California-based TPL Group has a solid track
record in delivering a complete suite of intellectual property management
services. In addition to optimizing IP Portfolio value and protecting assets
from infringement, the company is also well versed in converting portfolio
value into a maximum cash return for its owner(s). Through Alliacense, a
cadre of its senior executives, the TPL Group manages IP Licensing Programs
across a broad array of industries.
About Patriot Scientific
Patriot Scientific has emerged as an intellectual property company,
developing and marketing innovative and proprietary semiconductor technologies
into the fast-growing handheld wireless and smart card markets. The company's
portfolio of patents encompasses what is believed to be fundamental
microprocessor technology and includes additional patents pending to protect
its technology and architecture.
An investment profile on Patriot Scientific may be found at
http://www.hawkassociates.com/patriot/profile.htm.
Detailed information about Patriot Scientific can be found on the website
http://www.ptsc.com. Copies of Patriot Scientific press releases, current
price quotes, stock charts and other valuable information for investors may be
found on the websites http://www.hawkassociates.com and
http://www.hawkmicrocaps.com.
Safe Harbor statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995: Statements in this news release looking forward in time involve risks
and uncertainties, including the risks associated with the effect of changing
economic conditions, trends in the products markets, variations in the
company's cash flow, market acceptance risks, technical development risks,
seasonality and other risk factors detailed in the company's Securities and
Exchange Commission filings.
Alliacense is a trademark of TPL Group.
IGNITE and INFLAME are trademarks of Patriot Scientific Corporation.
Go PTSC Onwards and Upwards!