On Tue, 11 Nov 1997 06:55:44 +0200, you wrote:

>Rick Sherman wrote:
>>
>> Microchip files suit against two
>>
>>                  By Darrell Dunn
>>
>>                  Microchip Technology Inc. has filed suit against Scenix
>> Semiconductor Inc.
>>                  and Parallax Inc., alleging infringement of six patents
>> related to Microchip's
>>                  8-bit PIC MCU architecture.
>
>I was waiting for this. I you can't beat 'em, sue 'em. How predictable.
>If
>Microchip spent the money they are wasting on making lawyers rich on
>engineers, everybody (except said lawyers) would benefit.
>
>C'mon guys, you can sue Scenix, but you won't have enough fingers to
>plug
>all the holes. If the technology is within reach of a small company like
>Scenix, others will follow.
Now I've seen some info on the new PIC16C1xx range, this action makes
more sense - Scenix were targetting high-speed I/O applications, which
is one of the major changes in the new PICs. The uncertainty caused by
this action will make people hold off from using Scenix until it is
resolved (would YOU design-in Scenix now ?), by which time it may be
too late. I can't really see what's patentable about the PIC
architecture - they just did it first & cheap, and it could have been
done in one of several ways with the same performance. 
     ____                                                           ____
   _/ L_/  Mike Harrison / White Wing Logic / wwl@netcomuk.co.uk  _/ L_/
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