MIPS Technologies sues Lexra for patent infringement

MIPS Technologies sues Lexra for patent infringement
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — MIPS Technologies Inc. filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Lexra Inc. alleging that several 32-bit Lexra microprocessors infringe on either one or two MIPS patents.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that Lexra's LX 4080, 4080P, 4180, 4280 and 5280 devices infringe on MIPS patents. Nine other patents may also be infringed, but no formal claims have been made as yet, according to MIPS. This suit follows an earlier suit MIPS filed last year charging Lexra with trademark infringement for calling its chips MIPS-compatible. Lexra subsequently dropped those claims, according to John Bourgoin, chief executive officer of MIPS, based here.

"We've been in four or five discussions with Lexra about licensing our patents, but those discussions were not promising, to say the least," Bourgoin said. "We needed to do something to protect our intellectual property."

Lexra did not return a call for comment by press time.