Cornell sues HP over patent infringement

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By Stacy Cowley

(IDG) -- Cornell University is suing Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) for patent infringement, charging HP with longtime violations of a patented technique for increasing a computer's processing speed.

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Cornell's suit, filed December 27 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York but announced Friday, alleges that HP has been infringing on a Cornell patent since 1995.

Repeated efforts to address the infringement have been rebuffed by HP, Cornell said. The university estimated that its request for damages could exceed $100 million.

The patent in question -- U.S. patent No. 4,807,115, "Instruction issuing mechanism for processors with multiple functional units" -- was granted in 1989 to Cornell Research Foundation Inc., covering a technique invented by H.C. Torng, a professor emeritus with Cornell's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

HP has been infringing on the patent since 1995, Cornell said in a statement. Representatives of HP could not be immediately reached for comment.