Digital Equipment Corp. filed suit against the Intel Corporation May 12, 1997 in federal court in Massachusetts, alleging that Intel, the market leader in microprocessors for personal computers, is violating a number of Digital patents with its Pentium Pro and Pentium II product lines.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
CENTRAL SECTION

DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION,

Plaintiff,

v.

INTEL CORPORATION,

Defendant.

Civil Action No. 97-40080-NMG

COMPLAINT

I. NATURE OF THE ACTION

        1. This is an action for
damages and injunctive relief to
remedy the willful infringement by
defendant Intel Corporation
("Intel") of patents issued to
plaintiff Digital Equipment
Corporation ("Digital") by the
United States Patent and Trademark
Office.  These patents cover
inventions by Digital in such
areas as computer architecture and
microprocessor design.  The
inventions greatly enhance the
speed and efficiency of essential
functions in advanced
microprocessors through innovative
developments in the sequencing,
management and execution of
instructions and in the
architecture and management of
cache memory.  Defendant Intel
uses these patented inventions in
its microprocessor products.

II. JURISDICTION AND VENUE

        2. This is an action for
infringement of patents, 35 U.S.C.
§271, arising under the patent
laws of the United States.  The
jurisdiction of this Court is
based on 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and
1338.  Venue is based on 28 U.S.C
§§ 1391(b) and (c) and 1400(b).

III. THE PARTIES

        3. Plaintiff Digital is a
Massachusetts corporation
headquartered in Maynard,
Massachusetts which also resides
in Worcester County,
Massachusetts.

        4. Founded in Massachusetts
in 1957, Digital has long been
recognized as one of the world's
leading innovators in computer
architecture and technology.  For
nearly forty years, Digital has
invested in basic research and
development in the computing
field.  Its efforts have spawned
many significant innovative
technologies including the Alpha
family of microprocessors -
incorporating most of the patented
inventions sued upon here.  Since
its introduction, the Alpha family
of microprocessors has
consistently achieved the highest
performance of any general purpose
microprocessor.

        5. Upon information and
belief, defendant Intel is a
Delaware corporation headquartered
in Santa Clara, California.  Intel
resides in this judicial district
within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. §
1391(c).

IV.     THE PERTINENT FACTS

        A. The Digital Patents in
Suit
        6. On July 5, 1988, United
States Patent No. 4, 755,936
titled "Apparatus and Method for
Providing a Cache Memory Unit With
a Write Operation Utilizing Two
System Clock Cycles" was duly and
legally  issued to Digital on an
application filed by Robert
E.Stewart, Barry J. Flahive and
James B. Keller.  Since that date,
Digital has been and still is the
owner of all right and title to
this patent, including the right
to recover for infringement.
        7. On July 11, 1989, United
States Patent No. 4,847,804 titled
"Apparatus and Method for Data
Copy Consistency in a Multi-Cache
Processing Unit" was duly and
legally issued to Digital on an
application filed by Stephen J.
Schaffer and Richard A. Warren.
Since that date, Digital has been
and still is the owner of all
right and title to this patent,
including the right to recover for
infringement.

        8. On February 25, 1992,
United States Patent No. 5,091,845
titled "System for Controlling The
Storage of Information in a Cache
Memory" was duly and legally
issued to Digital on an
application filed by Paul I.
Rubenfeld.  Since that date,
Digital has been and still is the
owner of all right and title to
this patent, including the right
to recover for infringement.

        9. On June 23, 1992, United
States Patent No. 5,125,083 titled
"Method And Apparatus For
Resolving A Variable Number of
Potential Memory Access Conflicts
In A Pipelined Computer System"
was duly and legally issued to
Digital on an application filed by
David B. Fite, Tryggve Fossum,
Ricky C, Hetherington, John E.
Murray and David A. Webb.  Since
that date, Digital has been and
still is the owner of all right
and title to this patent,
including the right to recover for
infringement.

        10. On September 15, 1992,
United States Patent No. 5,
148,536 titled "Pipeline Having
Integral Cache Which Processes
Cache Misses And Loads Data In
Parallel" was duly and legally
issued to Digital on an
application filed by Richard T.
Witcek, Douglas D. Williams,
Timothy J. Stanley, David M.
Fenwick, Douglas J. Burns, Rebecca
L. Stamm and Richard Heye.  Since
that date, Digital has been and
still is the owner of all right
and title to this patent,
including the right to recover for
infringement.

        11. On January 12, 1993,
United States Patent No. 5,179,673
title "Subroutine Return
Prediction Mechanism Using Ring
Buffer And Comparing Predicated
Address With Actual Address To
Validate Or Flush The Pipeline"
was duly and legally issued to
Digital on an application filed by
Simon C. Steely, Jr. and David J.
Sager.  Since that date, Digital
has been and still is the owner of
all right and title to this
patent, including  the right to
recover for infringement.

        12. On March 23, 1993,
United States Patent No. 5,197,132
titled "Register Mapping System
Having A Log Containing Sequential
Listing Of Registers That Were
Changed In Preceding Cycles For
Precise Post-Branch Recovery" was
duly and legally issued to Digital
on an application filed by Simon
C. Steely, Jr. and David J. Sager.
Since that date, Digital has been
and still is the owner of all
right and title to this patent,
including the right to recover for
infringement.

        13. On February 28, 1995,
United States Patent No. 5,394,529
titled "Branch Prediction Unit For
High-Performance Processor" was
duly and legally issued to Digital
on an application filed by John F.
Brown, III, Shawn Persels and
Jeanne Meyer.  Since that date,
Digital has been and still is the
owner of all right and title to
this patent, including the right
to recover for infringement.

        14. On July 4, 1995, United
States Patent No. 5,430,888 titled
"Pipeline Utilizing An Integral
Cache For Transferring Data To And
From A Register" was duly and
legally issued to Digital on an
application filed by Richard T.
Witek, Douglas D. Williams,
Timothy J. Stanley, David M.
Fenwick, Douglas J. Burns, Rebecca
L. Stamm and Richard Heys. Since
that date, Digital has been and
still is the owner of all right
and title to this patent,
including the right to recover for
infringement.

        15. On October 22, 1996,
United States Patent No. 5,568,624
titled "Byte-Compare Operation For
High-Performance Processor" was
duly and legally issued to Digital
on an application filed by Richard
L. Sites and Richard T. Witek.
Since that date, Digital has been
and still is the owner of all
right and title to this patent,
including the right to recover for
infringement.

B. Infringement by Intel's
Microprocessors Of Ten Digital
Patents

        16. On information and
belief, Intel has been and is now
infringing, contributorily
infringing and actively inducing
infringement of at least claim 1
of Digital's United States Patent
No. 4,755,936 by making, using,
offering to sell and/or selling
within this judicial District and
elsewhere in the United States,
without license or authority from
Digital, certain microprocessors,
including at least microprocessors
sold under the following trade
names: Pentium Pro processor and
Pentium II processor, and by
instructing others how to use
these microprocessors.

        17. On information and
belief, Intel has been and is now
infringing, contributorily
infringing and actively inducing
infringement of at least claim 1
of Digital's United States Patent
No. 4,847,804 by making, using,
offering to sell and/or selling
within this judicial District and
elsewhere in the United States,
without license or authority from
Digital, certain microprocessors,
including at least microprocessors
sold under the following trade
names: Pentium processor, Pentium
processor with MMX technology,
Pentium Pro processor and Pentium
II processor, and by instructing
others how to use these
microprocessors.

        18. On information and
belief, Intel has been and is now
infringing, contributorily
infringing and actively inducing
infringement of at least claim 1
of Digital's United States Patent
No. 5,091,845 by making, using,
offering to sell and/or selling
within this judicial District and
elsewhere in the United States,
without license or authority from
Digital, certain microprocessors,
including at least microprocessors
sold under the following trade
names: Pentium processor and
Pentium processor with MMX
technology, and by instructing
others how to use these
microprocessors.

        19. On information and
belief, Intel has been and is now
infringing, contributorily
infringing and actively inducing
infringement of at least claim 8
of Digital's United States Patent
No. 5,125,083 by making, using,
offering to sell and/or selling
within this judicial District and
elsewhere in the United States,
without license or authority from
Digital, certain microprocessors,
including at least microprocessors
sold under the following trade
names: Pentium Pro processor and
Pentium II processor, and by
instructing others how to use
these microprocessors.

        20. On information and
belief, Intel has been and is now
infringing, contributorily
infringing and actively inducing
infringement of at least claim 25
of Digital's United States Patent
No. 5,148,536 by making, using,
offering to sell and/or selling
within this judicial District and
elsewhere in the United States,
without license or authority from
Digital, certain microprocessors,
including at least microprocessors
sold under the following trade
names: Pentium Pro processor and
Pentium II processor, and by
instructing others how to use
these microprocessors.

        21. On information and
belief, Intel has been and is now
infringing, contributorily
infringing and actively inducing
infringement of at least claim 1
of Digital's United States Patent
No. 5,179,673 by making, using,
offering to sell and/or selling
within this judicial District and
elsewhere in the United States,
without license or authority from
Digital, certain microprocessors,
including at least microprocessors
sold under the following trade
names: Pentium Pro processor and
Pentium II processor, and by
instructing others how to use
these microprocessors.

        22. On information and
belief, Intel has been and is now
infringing, contributorily
infringing and actively inducing
infringement of at least claim 1
of Digital's United States Patent
No. 5,197,132 by making, using,
offering to sell and/or selling
within this judicial District and
elsewhere in the United States,
without license or authority from
Digital, certain microprocessors,
including at least microprocessors
sold under the following trade
names: Pentium Pro processor and
Pentium II processor, and by
instructing others how to use
these microprocessors.

        23. On information and
belief, Intel has been and is now
infringing, contributorily
infringing and actively inducing
infringement of at least claim 1
of Digital's United States Patent
No. 5,394,529 by making, using,
offering to sell and/or selling
within this judicial District and
elsewhere in the United States,
without license or authority from
Digital, certain microprocessors,
including at least microprocessors
sold under the following trade
names: Pentium Pro processor and
Pentium II processor, and by
instructing others how to use
these microprocessors.

        24. On information and
belief, Intel has been and is now
infringing, contributorily
infringing and actively inducing
infringement of at least claim 1
of Digital's United States Patent
No. 5,430,888 by making using
offering to sell and/or selling
within this judicial District and
elsewhere in the United States,
without license or authority from
Digital, certain microprocessors,
including at least microprocessors
sold under the following trade
names: Pentium Pro processor and
Pentium II processor, and by
instructing others how to use
these microprocessors.

        25. On information and
belief, Intel has been and is now
infringing, contributorily
infringing and actively inducing
infringement of at least claim 9
of Digital's United States Patent
No. 5,568,624 by making using
offering to sell and/or selling
within this judicial District and
elsewhere in the United States,
without license or authority from
Digital, certain microprocessors,
including at least microprocessors
sold under the following trade
names: Pentium Pro processor and
Pentium II processor, and by
instructing others how to use
these microprocessors.

        26. On information and
belief, Intel's infringement of
these patents has been willful and
deliberate and Intel will continue
in infringing activities unless
restrained by this Court.

        27. On information and
belief, Intel's appropriation of
Digital's patented technology
without Digital's permission has
enabled Intel to maintain market
dominance in microprocessors for
personal computers and to expand
that market power into the server
and workstation fields. On
information and belief, Intel
profited handsomely through its
infringement. At the same time,
Intel's infringement Digital
irreparable harm in its own
business.

        28. On information and
belief, Intel has profited and
will continue to profit by its
infringing activities.

        29. Digital has complied
with the requirements of 35 U.S.C.
Section 287. when applicable.

        30. Digital has been damaged
and will be irreparably injured
unless these infringing activities
are enjoined.

        WHEREFORE, plaintiff prays

        A. That this Court adjudge
that plaintiff Digital is the
owner of United States Patent Nos.
4,755,936, 4,847,804, 5,091,845,
5,125,083, 5,148,536, 5,179,673,
5,197,132, 5,394,529, 5,430,888,
and 5,568,624; and all rights of
recovery under each of them;

        B. That this Court adjudge
that each of United States Patent
Nos. 4,755,936, 4,847,804,
5,091,845, 5,125,083, 5,148,536,
5,179,673, 5,197,132, 5,394,529,
5,430,888, and 5,568,624 is good
and valid in law and that
defendant Intel has infringed each
of them;

        C. That a preliminary and
permanent injunction be issued
enjoining Intel and those in
privity with Intel from further
infringement, contributory
infringement and actively inducing
infringement of each of them;

        D. That an accounting be had
for the damages to Digital arising
out of Intel's infringing
activities together with interest
and costs, and that such damages
be awarded to Digital;

        E. That Intel's infringement
be adjudged willful and that the
damages to Digital be increased to
three times the amount found or
assessed pursuant to 35 U.S.C.
Section 284;

        F. That this be adjudged an
exceptional case and that Digital
be awarded its attorney fees in
this action pursuant to 35 U.S.C.
Section 285; and

        G. That Digital be awarded
such other and further relief as
the Court may deem just and
equitable.

        Plaintiff demands trial by
jury on all issues.

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ Paul F. Ware (BBO#516240)
Shepard M. Remis (BBO#416540)
Goodwin, Procter & Hoar LLP
Exchange Place
Boston, Massachusetts 02109-2881
Telephone: (617) 570-1000

Dated: May 12, 1997

OF COUNSEL:

Herbert F. Schwartz
Kenneth B. Herman
Jesse J. Jenner
Mark H. Bloomberg (BBO#544057)
FISH & NEAVE
1251 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10020
Telephone: (212) 596-9000

Martin London
Martin Flumenbaum
Carey R. Ramos
PAUL, WEISS, RIFKIND, WHARTON
& GARRISON
1285 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10019-6064
Telephone: (212) 373-3054

Thomas C. Siekman (BBO#461780)
James P. Shaughnessy (BBO#557797)
DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION
111 Powdermill Road
Maynard, Massachusetts 01754
Telephone: (508) 493-4422