[EnricoFermi @ Nov 17th 2006 3:03PM]

Andy, well said.

AMD itself, has required the use of litigation to protect its own interests and so has Intel.

It is also "those that do" that just so happen to own more of these "useless" patents than anyone else. When you are a small company like Via, Transmeta, ARM, or MIPS, patent litigation is the only way to prevent yourself from getting completely taken advantage of, especially when licenses account for most of your revenue. Some companies just don't have the budget to just "do" on a whim, without worrying about someone copying them, especially the more innovative ones.

Companies like Intel steal ideas regardless of the fear of patent litigation. Can you imagine what it would be like without this fear? The uber-companies are usually fresh out of ideas and will often take advantage of the lesser ones, especially if they don't feel they will litigate. It is the start-ups that typically create, and when almost magically, Centrino shows up with your technology, don't you think you would sue? AMD almost went out of business in the 90's thanks to some unethical practices of "those that do." Transmeta has almost the same story, although more recently. I can't blame them.