FPGA vendors and their patents

[Paul Franklin]

I heard something about some major FPGA patents due to expire soon. I
think these are owned by Xilinx and/or Altera.

I would be interested if anybody can clarify what exactly these
patents are, and if anyone has an opinion on if their expiry could
potentially enable market entry by new entrants to the FPGA arena or
new product families by the exisiting FPGA vendors.

Regards,
Paul.

 

[Steve Casselman]

The earliest Xilinx patent is 4,870,302 Feb 19 1988. So it expires next year

Steve

"Paul Franklin" <paulfr@dacafe.com> wrote in message
news:518ec9d9.0402180243.2590fca0@posting.google.com...

I heard something about some major FPGA patents due to expire soon. I
think these are owned by Xilinx and/or Altera.

I would be interested if anybody can clarify what exactly these
patents are, and if anyone has an opinion on if their expiry could
potentially enable market entry by new entrants to the FPGA arena or
new product families by the exisiting FPGA vendors.

Regards,
Paul.

 

[Austin Lesea]

?

Of course, there are more patents that Xilinx has filed since then.

By the way, others have entered the FPGA business (an left it --
unsuccessfully) and did not infringe on any patents, so it can be done.

Why did they not succeed? Did it have to do with patents?

Nope.

Austin

Steve Casselman wrote:

The earliest Xilinx patent is 4,870,302 Feb 19 1988. So it expires next year

Steve

"Paul Franklin" <paulfr@dacafe.com> wrote in message
news:518ec9d9.0402180243.2590fca0@posting.google.com...

I heard something about some major FPGA patents due to expire soon. I
think these are owned by Xilinx and/or Altera.

I would be interested if anybody can clarify what exactly these
patents are, and if anyone has an opinion on if their expiry could
potentially enable market entry by new entrants to the FPGA arena or
new product families by the exisiting FPGA vendors.

Regards,
Paul.

 

[Paul Franklin]

Austin Lesea <austin@xilinx.com> wrote in message news:<c1dko2$l603@cliff.xsj.xilinx.com>...

?

Of course, there are more patents that Xilinx has filed since then.

By the way, others have entered the FPGA business (an left it --
unsuccessfully) and did not infringe on any patents, so it can be done.

Why did they not succeed? Did it have to do with patents?

Nope.

Austin

Nope indeed. Why waste more money on lawyers' fees when the others can
self-destruct?
But I'll bet you are your buddies at Altera would have used your
patent portfolio at the whiff of any serious threat!

Steve Casselman wrote:
The earliest Xilinx patent is 4,870,302 Feb 19 1988. So it expires next year

Steve

Is this the famous Freeman patent?

"Paul Franklin" <paulfr@dacafe.com> wrote in message
news:518ec9d9.0402180243.2590fca0@posting.google.com...

I heard something about some major FPGA patents due to expire soon. I
think these are owned by Xilinx and/or Altera.

I would be interested if anybody can clarify what exactly these
patents are, and if anyone has an opinion on if their expiry could
potentially enable market entry by new entrants to the FPGA arena or
new product families by the exisiting FPGA vendors.

Regards,
Paul.

 

[MaEs]

Steve Casselman wrote:
The earliest Xilinx patent is 4,870,302 Feb 19 1988. So it expires
next year

Steve

Is this the famous Freeman patent?

Likely, although one company A. might refer to it as 'infamous'


US4870302:

"Configurable electrical circuit having configurable logic elements and
configurable interconnects"

Inventor: Ross H. Freeman, San Jose, Calif.

Assignee: Xilinx, Inc., San Jose, Calif.

 

[Peter Alfke]

If anybody wants to look upany issued patents, just go to

http://appft1.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html

Peter Alfke, Xilinx
==================
MaEs wrote:

Steve Casselman wrote:
The earliest Xilinx patent is 4,870,302 Feb 19 1988. So it expires
next year

Steve

Is this the famous Freeman patent?



Likely, although one company A. might refer to it as 'infamous'

US4870302:

"Configurable electrical circuit having configurable logic elements and
configurable interconnects"

Inventor: Ross H. Freeman, San Jose, Calif.

Assignee: Xilinx, Inc., San Jose, Calif.