Parties End Ownership Litigation
TPL Group to Manage Licensing Program
SAN DIEGO, June 7, 2005 -- In a move that will expedite the licensing of a
series of fundamental microprocessor patents that are at the heart of a global
$200 billion-plus microprocessor end-use market, intellectual properties firms
Patriot Scientific (OTC Bulletin Board: PTSC) and The TPL Group announced today
an agreement to unify their interests in key microprocessor patents originally
filed in 1989 and granted in 1998. Under the terms of this agreement, The TPL
Group is granted full responsibility and authority for the commercialization and
licensing of the unified patents portfolio.
This significant joint accord ends years of litigation between Patriot
Scientific and The TPL Group over title to the patents. Previously, each
corporation had licensed these core technology patents separately. Earlier this
year Patriot Scientific had successfully licensed this core technology to AMD
(NYSE: AMD). Under terms of this new agreement, Patriot Scientific and TPL will
receive certain payments in addition to sharing in future revenues generated by
a licensing program exclusively implemented by TPL.
This ten-patent portfolio contains core building blocks for today's
microprocessor implementation and architecture. Editor of the Gilder Technology
Report, Dr. Nick Tredennick, named a Fellow of the IEEE for his contributions to
microprocessor design, said, "Chuck Moore's architectural insight is impressive.
Over fifteen years ago he conceived designs that appear to be fundamental to
modern microprocessor design," adding, "it is likely that a broad range of
today's microprocessor-based products rely on concepts described in these
patents."
Roger Cook, a senior patent litigator with the highly regarded law firm of
Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP, has been instrumental in licensing the
portfolio to one of the world's pre-eminent microprocessor manufacturers. Cook
said, "This portfolio appears to be a patent litigator's dream."
TPL and Patriot believe at least three of the ten patents are elemental to
virtually every microprocessor design. The three most significant of these
patents are as follows:
* U.S. 5,809,336: Clocking CPU and I/O Separately
* U.S. 6,598,148: Use of Multiple Cores and Embedded Memory
* U.S. 5,784,584: Multiple Instruction Fetch
Both The TPL Group and Patriot Scientific believe these now-unified patents,
which were granted in 1998 and which don't expire until 2015, have long been
essential to the design of modern high-speed microprocessors. These now-allied
firms are now in position to maximize the value of this patent portfolio. Global
sales by potential licensees of products applying technologies protected by the
jointly owned patents are estimated to be greater than $200 billion annually.
As an active intellectual property company specializing in microprocessor
technology, Patriot Scientific retains rights to make and market array
microprocessor products and technologies under its current IGNITE(TM) and
INFLAME(TM) brands, as well as a range of other products and technologies not
utilizing the patents covered by this new agreement.
"This accord represents an important milestone for our company," said Jeff
Wallin, president and CEO of Patriot Scientific. "This agreement replaces costly
ongoing litigation with a win-win scenario that supports our efforts to license
and protect our company's intellectual property on a broader scale. The TPL
Group is well-positioned to aggressively license these core technology patents,
freeing Patriot Scientific to focus on our equally innovative IGNITE and INFLAME
array microprocessor core technologies, as well as other innovations currently
in our development pipeline."
TPL Group Chairman Dan Leckrone, reaffirmed his company's longstanding
philosophy to encourage cooperation instead of litigation. "Since TPL began
managing intellectual property more than 15 years ago, our business strategy has
always been driven by relationship building and constructive cooperation. Our
agreement with Patriot Scientific is a good example of this strategy at work."
The TPL Group announced that the licensing program for the patents will be
managed by Alliacense, a core group of senior TPL Group executives directly
responsible for the development and commercialization of the firm's patent
portfolios.
About The TPL Group
Founded in 1985, Cupertino California-based TPL Group has a solid track record
in delivering a complete suite of intellectual property management services. In
addition to optimizing IP Portfolio value and protecting assets from
infringement, the company is also well versed in converting portfolio value into
a maximum cash return for its owner(s). Through Alliacense, a cadre of its
senior executives, the TPL Group manages IP Licensing Programs across a broad
array of industries.
About Patriot Scientific
Patriot Scientific has emerged as an intellectual property company, developing
and marketing innovative and proprietary semiconductor technologies into the
fast-growing handheld wireless and smart card markets. The company's portfolio
of patents encompasses what is believed to be fundamental microprocessor
technology and includes additional patents pending to protect its technology and
architecture.
An investment profile on Patriot Scientific may be found at
http://www.hawkassociates.com/patriot/profile.htm.
Detailed information about Patriot Scientific can be found on the website
http://www.ptsc.com. Copies of Patriot Scientific press releases, current price
quotes, stock charts and other valuable information for investors may be found
on the websites http://www.hawkassociates.com and http://www.hawkmicrocaps.com.
Safe Harbor statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995: Statements in this news release looking forward in time involve risks and
uncertainties, including the risks associated with the effect of changing
economic conditions, trends in the products markets, variations in the company's
cash flow, market acceptance risks, technical development risks, seasonality and
other risk factors detailed in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission
filings.
Alliacense is a trademark of TPL Group.
IGNITE and INFLAME are trademarks of Patriot Scientific Corporation.
CONTACTS:
Patriot Media Relations Patriot Investor Relations
Daryl Toor Frank Hawkins/Julie Marshall
Attention Group Hawk Associates Inc
(770) 777-9489 (305) 451-1888
dtoor@attentiongroup.com info@hawkassociates.com
The TPL Group
Tom Rigoli
Mindpik
(650)-969-5986
rigoli@mindpik.com