ESS Technology Inc. successfully defeats Yamaha in court again.

FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 1, 1995--ESS Technology, Inc. announced that it has repeated its success in defeating Yamaha. The Federal District Court in Los Angeles today strongly denied Yamaha's motion for a preliminary injunction against the ES1488 and ES1688 AudioDrive(R) chips, which are single chip audio solutions with integrated FM synthesis for PCs. Yamaha alleged that the ES1488 and ES1688 infringed two Yamaha patents. This decision follows the court's earlier denial of Yamaha's request for a Temporary Restraining Order.

"We believe that we have overwhelming proof that our products do not infringe upon Yamaha's patents, and we are pleased that the court again ruled in our favor," stated Mr. Fred Chan, President of ESS Technology, Inc. "We have been confident from the onset that we could prove to the Court that our products do not infringe, and we remain confident that we will continue to succeed in our defense of this issue."

"ESS is an innovative technology company which owns patents on audio technology, and is the first and only company to have developed audio chips that integrate all audio functions on a single chip with ESFM synthesis, which rival wavetable synthesizer sound quality. ESFM provides a dramatic improvement over FM synthesis in music quality through a combination of hardware, software, and music databases. ESS includes the ESFM synthesizer as one of the features integrated within our AudioDrive single chip product line. The Yamaha FM chips had been virtually the only FM products on the market until the ES1488 and ES1688. We surpassed Yamaha and became the market leader in this industry, and Yamaha has exhausted all attempts to slow us down," continued Mr. Chan.

The ES1488 and ES1688 AudioDrive are 16 bit chips in the ESS AudioDrive single chip product family that integrate all audio functions necessary for PC audio, essentially replacing the sound card. It includes built-in ESFM synthesis, an FM synthesis technology developed by ESS, that provides superior sound quality and performance.

"ES1488 and ES1688 are now in mass production. Many major PC OEMs are very excited about our ESFM synthesis products and have chosen them as the new audio standard for their products. We have ramped up production and are able to meet all volume demands from our customers," continued Mr. Chan.

ESS designs, develops and markets mixed-signal VLSI integrated circuits for audio applications that range from computers, multimedia and electronic instruments to educational products, consumer products, and toys. The company was founded in 1984 and holds 14 worldwide patents in audio technologies. Since 1989, ESS has shipped over 70 million audio chips. Since the introduction of the first ES488 AudioDrive(R) chip in 1992, ESS has captured many major design wins from PC OEMs with its line of single chip products and has since been shipping in volume. In addition to the ES488 and ES1488, the AudioDrive(R) single chip audio product family also includes ES688, ES788, ES888, ES1688, ES1788 and ES1888. These chips provide single chip support ranging from Microsoft Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows Sound System, DOS, IBM OS/2, to complete PC game support and Intel NSP support.

For further information, please contact Mr. Albert Mak, ESS Technology, Inc. located at 46107 Landing Parkway, Fremont, California, Tel: [phone], Fax: [phone].

CONTACT: ESS Technology Inc.

Albert Mak, 510/226-1088