TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Patent Ruling Appeal Rejected: The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the patent law appeal by Intel Corp. in a dispute with Ulsi System Technology Inc. over the manufacture of a computer chip. A federal judge in Portland, Ore., issued a preliminary ruling favoring Intel after concluding that the Ulsi clone might infringe on Intel’s patent, even though the clone was made under contract by Hewlett-Packard Co., which holds a license to the Intel patent. Ulsi argued that its manufacture and sale of the clone were legitimate because of Hewlett’s license. A federal appeals court reversed that ruling, saying Hewlett-Packard was allowed to make the clone based on the Intel patent because of the licensing agreement between those two companies.