Irell & Manella victorious in defense of Texas Instruments: Acacia claim of patent infringement is dismissed in federal court.

INTELLECTUAL property firm Irell & Manella LLP scored a big win for Dallas-based Texas Instruments Inc. earlier this month when a U.S. District Court judge in L.A. issued a summary judgment dismissing a patent infringement case that sought $94 million and a permanent injunction.

The case was brought by Newport Beach-based Acacia Research Corp. on behalf of subsidiary Microprocessor Enhancement Corp. Acacia, which derives much of its business from patent infringement claims, declined to comment on the decision.

Acacia claimed that Texas Instruments' line of C6000 microprocessors, used commercially as part of computers to decode frequencies for cell phone towers and cable-box recorders, violated its patent on high-performance microprocessors.

"This is a very significant part of the market for them because these are among their top-of-the-line devices," said attorney Gary Frischling, who led the Irell team.

"Rulings such as this one encourage innovative technology companies such as TI to continue standing firm against the increasing number of meritless patent infringement lawsuits being threatened and filed against them," said TI General Counsel Joseph F. Hubach.

Frischling said the summary judgment win gave him a "terrific feeling."

"We obviously believed from the outset that the claim didn't have any merit," he said. "It's nice to get a decisive conclusion from the court and spare the client the cost and burden of a trial when we felt there wasn't anything worth trying."

Frischling worked on the case for nearly two years, along with partner Layn Phillips, senior counsel Brian Ledahl, and associates Keith Orso and Alex Karpman.

EMILY BRYSON YORK

Staff Reporter