Judge Shows Skepticism in Intel Patent Fight

Intel Corp. encountered skepticism from a U.S. appellate judge who questioned the company’s claim that its high-speed Itanium computer chips didn’t use technology invented by Intergraph Corp.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel is appealing a $250-million award by a U.S. trial judge last year in the patent-infringement case.

At a hearing in Washington, Judge Raymond C. Clevenger III challenged Intel’s argument that Madison, Ala.-based Intergraph’s patent was invalid because it didn’t specify which “pipelines” through a microprocessor would be used to route commands. Intel argues that Intergraph’s technology can’t be patented because it doesn’t offer a method of routing instructions that differs from Intel’s preexisting design.