GlobalFoundries and TSMC Sign Broad Cross-Licensing Agreement, Dismiss Lawsuits
GlobalFoundries and TSMC have announced this afternoon that they have signed a broad cross-licensing agreement, ending all of their ongoing legal disputes. Under the terms of the deal, the two companies will license each other's semiconductor-related patents granted so far, as well as any patents filed over the next 10 years.
Previously, GlobalFoundries has been accusing TSMC of patent infringement. At the time of the first lawsuit in August, TSMC said that the charges were baseless and that it would defend itself in court. In October, TSMC countersued its rival and, in turn, accused GlobalFoundries of infringing multiple patents. Now, less than a month after the countersuit, the two companies have agreed to sign a broad cross licensing agreement and dismiss all ongoing litigation.
Previously: GlobalFoundries Sues TSMC for Patent Infringement, Seeking Import Ban
TSMC Countersues GlobalFoundries: Accuses US Fab of Infringing Patents Across Numerous Process Nodes
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 29 2019, @12:42PM (2 children)
Some CEO started this, what was he/she thinking?
Aside from just making heat,
The lawyers made money.
They do have a clear(er) patent runway for the future.
Perhaps, this could affect somebody that got left out like Intel.
Anything else?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday October 29 2019, @12:52PM (1 child)
GloFo has to protect its neck since their business stagnated.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Tuesday October 29 2019, @04:41PM
Actually GF appears to be doing well. They are no longer burning cash chasing 7nm and they have leveraged their product suite to optimize for some specialized applications.
https://semiwiki.com/semiconductor-manufacturers/globalfoundries/275704-the-gf-pivot-specialization-defined/ [semiwiki.com]
I'm not a lawyer so I cannot weigh in on the back and forth lawsuits, but this quick resolution feels like normal corporate bullshit required to maintain an IP portfolio.