Motions in Magma-Synopsys Patent Case to be Determined Without Oral Argument; Court Ruling Acknowledges Magma as Owner of Record, Synopsys Might Demonstrate Co-Ownership.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Magma(R) Design Automation Inc. (Nasdaq:LAVA), a provider of semiconductor design software, today announced the U.S. District Court for the District of Northern California notified both Magma and Synopsys Inc. (Nasdaq:SNPS) on Dec. 1 that a hearing on several motions scheduled for Dec. 2 was taken off the court's calendar. The court will rule on the motions based on written record provided by the companies. Magma continues to assert defenses and counterclaims in the patent dispute, including Magma's ownership interest in the patents in question.

Although the court did not announce when it would rule on the bulk of the motions scheduled to be heard, it did issue a ruling on one of Synopsys' motions, a request to prevent Magma from seeking to have Magma's patents 6,453,446 and 6,725,438 (the '446 and '438 patents) re-examined by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in view of the court's August 2005 claim construction ruling. In granting Synopsys' motion, the court affirmed that Magma is the owner of record but indicated that Synopsys may be able to demonstrate co-ownership of the patents. The court also noted this ruling does not preclude the USPTO or other parties from initiating re-examination of the patents.

"We disagree with the court's ruling on re-examination -- it in effect puts us in a position of having to defend patents that, in light of the claim construction, may be invalid. But in any event, this decision doesn't affect a key issue in the case: Magma's ownership in these patents," said David Stanley, Magma's senior vice president, Corporate Legal. "This ruling is entirely consistent with our position that Magma has a rightful ownership interest in the '446 and '438 patents. Synopsys' claims of infringement are therefore without merit - we can't infringe our own patents."

Synopsys claimed in a September 2004 lawsuit that Magma's '446 and '438 patents should belong to Synopsys -- on the basis that a former Magma employee named as an inventor on the patents had been involved in similar work while employed at Synopsys -- and that Magma is in fact infringing the patents. Synopsys has taken the position that some of the inventions claimed in the patents were conceived at Synopsys. But evidence indicates that Synopsys itself put those inventions into the public domain well before Magma applied for its patents. Further, Synopsys has been unable to deny that at least some of the patents' inventions were conceived by employees at Magma, giving Magma an ownership interest in the patents.

"A major obstacle that Synopsys' lawyers don't seem to have found a path around is that Magma employees were inventors on these patents," Stanley said. "We therefore are owners of the patents. A lot of pleadings have been filed and arguments made by both parties in this case, but the fact remains that we can't infringe our own patents."

The matters before the court include Magma's motion for summary judgment of non-infringement on the basis that any ownership interest that Synopsys may have in the patents results from a joint development effort with IBM (NYSE:IBM). Magma asserts that IBM has a joint ownership interest in the patents and that Magma is licensed under IBM's rights. Also, as a matter of law, a claim of infringement requires that all owners of a patent join in the assertion of the patent. IBM has declined to do so, as it must, and thus Synopsys' claim of patent infringement should be dismissed. The court will also rule on Synopsys' motions seeking to prevent certain actions by Magma on the basis of estoppel.

Filings, court orders and other documents relevant to this matter are available on the Magma website at www.magma-da.com/PatentLitigation.html.

About Magma

Magma is a leading provider of software for semiconductor design. The world's top chip companies use Magma's EDA products to design and verify complex, high-performance integrated circuits (ICs) for communications, computing, consumer electronics and networking applications, while at the same time reducing design time and costs. Magma provides software for IC implementation, analysis, physical verification, characterization and programmable logic design, and the company's integrated RTL-to-GDSII design flow offers "The Fastest Path from RTL to Silicon"(TM). Magma is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. with offices around the world. The company's stock trades on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol LAVA. Visit Magma Design Automation on the Web at www.magma-da.com.

Magma is a registered trademark and "The Fastest Path from RTL to Silicon" is a trademark of Magma Design Automation Inc. All other product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including risks inherent in litigation. Further discussion of these and other potential risk factors may be found in Magma's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov). Magma undertakes no additional obligation to update these forward-looking statements.