Intergraph Back on the War Path

I'd figured Intergraph had collected all the hundreds of millions it could from computer manufacturers accidentally using Ingr's patents.

(Intergraph had acquired CPU technology from Fairchild Semiconductor, which Intergraph used in its Clipper CPU, back in the days when it still made its own hardware. The courts found that Intel coerced Intergraph into providing technology royalty-free, which Intel used in its Pentium CPUs. So Ingr's been after manufacturers of Pentium-based computers to pay up back royalties -- or be sued. The resulting rash of law suits always found in Ingr's favour. Even when HP tried to go on the counter-offensive and sue Ingr for apparently abusing HP's CAD software patents, Ingr won.)

After a period of rest, Ingr is expanding its court actions into Europe, filing suit against Fujitsu-Siemens Computers, NEC, and Toshiba. Parallel suits have been filed in USA.

Ingr CEO Halsey Wise likes it: "We believe that such licensing and litigation actions are in the best interests of our shareholders." As long as Ingr keeps winning, that is.