Intellectual Ventures has settled a lawsuit it brought against chipmaker Altera Corp, according to court filings in litigation against a group of semiconductor companies filed by the firm, which has purchased billions of dollars worth of patents. Intellectual Ventures sued Altera for patent infringement in December 2010 in a case that eventually included three other chipmaker defendants. According to documents filed this week in a Delaware federal court, Altera and Intellectual Ventures agreed to dismiss all claims against each other.Terms of the deal, including any potential patent licenses, were not disclosed in the filings. IV had previously announced settlements with Lattice Semiconductor Corp and Microsemi Corp. The sole remaining defendant in the case, Xilinx, is also an IV investor, according to court documents.Representatives for IV, Altera and Xilinx could not immediately comment on Friday.IV, founded in 2000, has raised about $6 billion from investors and says it creates an organized mechanism for innovators to capitalize on their ideas. However, critics in the technology industry say patent litigation and royalty payments have become a burdensome tax on innovation, and that firms like IV that do not primarily make products are taking advantage of the system.
Altera Corporation is a global semiconductor company. Shares of ALTR fell by 0.84% or $-0.26/share to $30.83. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $30.62 and as high as $39.18. On average, 3301630 shares of ALTR exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 3488326.
Lattice Semiconductor Corporation (Lattice) designs, develops and markets programmable logic products and related software. Shares of LSCC fell by 0.18% or $-0.01/share to $5.41. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $3.77 and as high as $5.77. On average, 1001460 shares of LSCC exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 570899.
Microsemi Corporation (Microsemi) is a designer, manufacturer and marketer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor solutions differentiated by power, security, reliability and performance. Shares of MSCC traded higher by 0.17% or $0.04/share to $23.07. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $18.96 and as high as $26.72. On average, 529769 shares of MSCC exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 464453.
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