AST Research Sues TI Over Royalty Rights
Computer maker AST Research Inc. has sued Texas Instruments Inc., alleging that Dallas-based TI has failed to honor royalty rights AST acquired when it bought Tandy Corp.’s computer division last summer.
Irvine-based AST alleged in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Santa Ana that it acquired the right to pay a reduced royalty on patents held by TI when it bought Tandy’s computer manufacturing assets for $105 million in July.
Last year, in the wake of a patent lawsuit, Tandy reportedly negotiated a settlement with TI in which it won the right to pay smaller license fees than other companies, such as AST. Upon acquiring the Tandy unit, however, AST discovered that TI would not honor the same royalty terms with AST.
“We want to pay the same rates as paid by our competitors,” AST spokesman Emory Epperson said Tuesday.
Terri West, a spokeswoman for TI, said the company could not comment because officials had not seen a copy of the lawsuit. She said the patents involved govern the ways in which a computer’s brain, or microprocessor, sends or receives data from other computer components.
As an example, TI holds basic patents that govern the diagnostic routine that occurs when a personal computer is turned on, West said.
AST did not disclose the amount of damages it is seeking. Epperson said the suit was sealed upon filing Monday because it contains confidential competitive information.
AST said the suit alleges that TI violated federal antitrust laws governing anti-competitive practices and violated the California Unfair Practices Act. Both laws prohibit secret and discriminatory practices that give discounts to competitors.
AST also alleged that TI violated an AST patent and that certain TI patents are invalid. It did not provide more information.
The patents were the subject of lawsuits between TI and computer makers Tandy, Dell Computer Corp., Zenith Data Systems and Samsung Electronics. The suits were settled last year, and a suit against computer maker Daewoo was settled in 1992.
