paying up, the Japanese 5 and others would more readily settle than to risk a court battle.(Figuring if those two didn`t risk the courts, why would they?)

So far...I`ve been very wrong, but have often thought that

with AMD and INTC chips out of the picture there are,I believe, more than 12 other chips involved in this suit.

I would think that the odds are that the Japanese 5 do not ``make`` all of them. There are probably other ``Intel-like`` suppliers that would make final settlement negotiations very difficult. In otherwords, the Japanese 5 would probably not be released from the suit even if they were willing to settle for the chips that they,themselves, actually make, because they are still using others` infringing product. Have we not drawn out any other suppliers with this suit? Any thoughts? Joe