Motorola Granted Stay on Ban Against Chip Sales

A federal judge on Friday granted Motorola Inc.’s request for a stay following his ruling that the company violated a key computer chip patent and order to stop selling one of its microprocessors.

The stay was granted pending an appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, according to the U.S. District Court clerk’s office in Austin.

Motorola spokesman Dan Rogers said the company sought the stay of the court’s injunction against domestic marketing and sale of its 68030 microprocessor and “is studying other legal remedies.”

The 68030 microprocessor is the centerpiece of a family of Motorola products that are the electronic heart of millions of personal computers and other electronic devices.

A lawsuit between Motorola and Tokyo-based Hitachi Ltd. resulted in each giant computer company receiving an award and a lecture on Thursday from U.S. District Judge Lucius Bunton not to waste the court’s time.

In a 45-page opinion, Bunton said the parties “would have saved time, money, feelings and relations had they curbed their emotions and sat down to settle their difference out of court.”

Under Bunton’s order, Hitachi will pay $1.9 million to Motorola for patent infringements, and Motorola will pay $500,000 to Hitachi for a patent infringement.

The order prohibits the companies, allies since 1975 in sharing technological and manufacturing advances, from marketing or selling various lines of microprocessors.

Motorola, based in Schaumburg, Ill., sued Hitachi, claiming the company was using Motorola secrets to develop a series of micro controllers--thumb-sized devices central to information-processing devices used in computers.

Hitachi filed a countersuit, claiming that Motorola infringed on some of its patents.