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SAN MATEO, CALIF. - The introduction of a new line of combination mixed-signal and memory chips from start-up NeoMagic Corp. was clouded when Cirrus Logic Inc. confirmed it had filed suit against the company for allegedly stealing intellectual property.
The suit charges that former Cirrus employees who are now members of NeoMagic's top management are using Cirrus-developed technology in their products. Cirrus is seeking to stop NeoMagic from using the disputed technology, to receive all proceeds from sale of products using the technology, and to recover damages.
The suit, filed Nov. 16 in the Superior Court of Santa Clara County in San Jose, concerns an innovative technology that combines analog and digital functions with dynamic RAM on a single chip, allowing logic parts to be produced on the same fab lines as high-volume memory parts. Coupling logic and memory opens avenues to both higher integration and higher performance. For example, NeoMagic's first product-the MagicGraph-combines logic and DRAM in a high-performance, low-power, space-miserly graphics solution for notebook computers.
According to court documents, a group of executives including Prakash Agarwal-president and chief executive of NeoMagic and formerly vice...