MIPS Technologies, Inc. files lawsuit to protect intellectual property rights

IP News

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA (October 28, 1999) - MIPS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:MIPS) today announced the commencement of a lawsuit against Lexra, Inc. for infringement of two United States patents. The two patents asserted against Lexra cover fundamental aspects of the MIPS® RISC Architecture. The suit was filed by MIPS Technologies in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

"MIPS Technologies is a world leader in the design and marketing of reduced instruction set computing (RISC) microprocessor technology," said John Bourgoin, MIPS Technologies' President and CEO. "MIPS Technologies' valuable microprocessor technology, much of which is reflected in scores of U.S. patents, is licensed to many of the world's leading semiconductor manufacturers," he said. "Although MIPS Technologies and Lexra have discussed a potential license, no agreement has been reached, and MIPS Technologies had little choice but to file this suit to protect its valuable patent rights," he added.

In its complaint, MIPS Technologies asserts that the LX 4080, LX 4080P, LX 4180, LX 4280 and LX 5280 all infringe U.S. Patent No. 4,814,976. MIPS Technologies also asserts that the LX 4280 and LX 5280 infringe U.S. Patent No. 5,864,703. MIPS Technologies identifies nine additional U.S. patents that it believes Lexra may be infringing, but no formal claims have yet been made regarding those patents. MIPS Technologies is seeking damages for past infringement, and a permanent injunction precluding Lexra from any further marketing or sales of the LX 4080, LX 4080P, LX 4180, LX 4280, LX 5280, or any other infringing products. "We simply will not sit by and allow our valuable intellectual property rights to be infringed," said Bourgoin.

About MIPS Technologies, Inc.
MIPS Technologies, Inc. is the world's primary architect of embedded 32- and 64-bit RISC processors. The company drives the broadest architectural alliance that is delivering 32- and 64-bit embedded RISC solutions. The company licenses its intellectual property to semiconductor manufacturing companies, ASIC developers, and system OEMs. MIPS Technologies, Inc. and its licensees offer the widest range of robust, scalable processors in standard, custom, semi-custom and application-specific products.

Licensees currently include: Alchemy Microprocessor Design Group; ATI; Broadcom Corporation; Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing; CommQuest (IBM); General Instrument; Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (IDT); Lara Technology; LSI Logic Corporation; Macronix; NEC Corporation; NKK Corporation; Philips Semiconductors; Quantum Effect Devices (QED); SandCraft, Inc.; Sony Corporation; SiByte; Synova; Texas Instruments Incorporated and Toshiba Corporation. Numerous companies utilize MIPS-based[tm] intellectual property. MIPS Technologies, Inc. is based in Mountain View, California, and can be reached at 650-567-5000 or http://www.mips.com

MIPS is a registered trademark of MIPS Technologies, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. All press materials are available on the World Wide Web via: http://www.mips.com.