Newport Beach-based Acacia Research Corp. said Tuesday that a unit has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Intel Corp. and Texas Instruments Corp.
The subsidiary,Microprocessor Enhancement Corp.,alleges Intel’s Itanium line of microprocessors and some digital signal processors sold by Texas Instruments violate the company’s technology.
The alleged infringement is related to Microprocessor’s advanced pipeline processors and how those chips are wired. Microprocessor said its chip architecture allows for conditional execution of instructions, and a later determination of whether the instructions executed should be written back to memory.
“By conditionally executing instructions in this architecture, significant improvements in processor speed can be achieved,” Acacia said in a release.
Acacia, which sells licensing rights to its digital transmission and biotech patents, said some chipmakers are using this method of processing to improve speed.
Earlier this year, Acacia bought Global Patent Holdings LLC for up to $7 million.
The buy gave Acacia control of 27 patent portfolios, including 121 U.S. patents and some foreign ones. The acquired patents cover broadcast equipment, spreadsheet programs, credit card receipt processing among other devices, Acacia said.
Shares of Acacia were up 2.1% to $5.9 in trading on Tuesday.
