SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Atmel Corp. said it has sued Infineon Technologies AG and Infineon Technologies North America Corp. for patent infringement.
The lawsuit, filed in United States District Court for the District of Delaware, alleges that Infineon's 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit microcontrollers infringe six Atmel patents.
Atmel said it filed the suit in response to a patent infringement suit that Infineon filed against it in the same court on April 11. Infineon alleges that Atmel is infringing on 11 of its U.S. patents. The company is seeking damages, a permanent injunction and a declaration that three Atmel patents are invalid.
Atmel said Wednesday that it denies those allegations and wants a judge to declare the Infineon patents invalid.
"While we did not initiate this litigation, we will always respond strongly when confronted with unfounded infringement claims," said Scott Wornow, Atmel senior vice president and chief legal officer. "After more closely evaluating the matter, we find that Infineon has used our intellectual property in many of its core products without our permission."
Atmel, based in San Jose, makes microcontrollers and other electronics components. Infineon Technologies AG, based in Germany, makes semiconductor chips and other systems used in automobiles, industrial electronics, chip card and security applications.
Infineon Technologies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
