Judge Is Allowed to Remain on Big Intel-NEC Copyright Case
A federal court ruled Thursday that the judge hearing a landmark case between semiconductor makers Intel and NEC does not have to disqualify himself even though he had been a member of an investment club that owned shares of Intel.
The ruling leaves intact an earlier decision by U.S. District Judge William A. Ingram that dealt with semiconductor firms’ ability to copyright their products.
Judge William W. Schwarzer, also on the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, ruled that Ingram may remain on the case, in which Intel has accused Japan’s NEC of infringing on its semiconductor copyrights.
Taken as Signal
Intel, a Santa Clara maker of computer chips, filed the action against NEC in February, 1985, as a countersuit to an NEC suit filed in 1984. NEC had challenged Intel’s copyrights on chip microcode--the sophisticated, complex instructions etched onto a semiconductor, or chip, that determine what it does and how it does it.
Last September, after a nine-week trial, Ingram ruled that microcode can be protected by federal copyright laws, a decision signaling that his final judgment would be in Intel’s favor, industry observers said. If Intel wins the case, NEC could be made to pay fines and damages. Additionally, the judge could bar imports of all products--NEC’s components as well as other company’s products using the chips--containing the code Intel claims was illegally copied.
NEC, now the world’s biggest seller of computer chips, had asked Ingram in November to remove himself from the case, based on the judge’s membership in an investment club.
No Impropriety
The club owned 60 shares of Intel stock. Ingram’s participation in the club, which totaled about $2,000, meant that he owned about $80 worth of Intel stock. Ingram said he had not been aware of the club’s investment in Intel stock until NEC made its request. Ingram later quit the investment club.
Schwarzer ruled Thursday that Ingram had acted properly and, since he had not known of his investment in Intel at the time he began hearing the case, his earlier ruling should stand. Because Ingram no longer participates in the club, Schwarzer ruled, he may continue to preside over the case.
Schwarzer’s decision may not be appealed, according to F. Thomas Dunlap, Intel general counsel. However, he said, NEC could ask an appellate court to order Ingram’s withdrawal from the case.
In a statement, Robert Hinckley, general counsel for NEC Electronics, said the company intends to seek such an order “because we feel that the statutes that apply to this matter must be upheld to ensure the integrity of our judicial system.”
