Two Silicon Valley-based chipmakers Wednesday said they have put aside their differences and settled all of their outstanding lawsuits against each other.
Austin, Texas-based Cirrus Logic and Santa Clara-based graphics chip maker NVIDIA
said they have agreed to mutual terms and have signed a cross-license agreement.
In May 2003, Cirrus Logic brought suit against NVIDIA and ATI Technologies in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division, for infringement of a Cirrus patent relating to graphics processor technology.
In July 2003, NVIDIA counterclaimed against Cirrus, alleging infringement of patents owned by NVIDIA relating to audio-controller technology.
Under the settlement agreement, all outstanding claims and counterclaims in the lawsuit between Cirrus and NVIDIA will be dismissed. In connection with the settlement, Cirrus Logic will transfer to NVIDIA a portion of its patent portfolio relating to the former graphics products group of its PC products division, a business that Cirrus exited several years ago. The company said it continues to invest in making high-performance analog, mixed-signal and digital processing chips and related products for consumer entertainment electronics, automotive entertainment and industrial product applications.
While no financial terms of the settlement were disclosed, Cirrus estimates its total cash at the end of the second quarter of fiscal year 2004 will be in the ballpark of $113 million to $118 million, compared to $115.5 million at the end of the company’s first quarter.
Cirrus said its patent infringement claims against NVIDIA rival ATI are still pending.
