Judge Rejects Intel Request
SUNNYVALE, CA -- April 1, 1997 --A federal judge has denied Intel Corporation's request for a temporary restraining order in a trademark suit over the term MMX. The ruling means that AMD may continue to use the term in advertising and promotional materials describing its AMD-K6 MMX processor. AMD will formally introduce the AMD-K6 processor at a news conference tomorrow.
"We are delighted at the court's ruling," said Thomas McCoy, AMD vice president and general counsel. "We believe the term MMX belongs to the public domain and that it is commonly understood to be a shorthand reference to multimedia extensions. Our intent all along has been to communicate that the AMD-K6 MMX processor directly executes the multimedia extensions to the x86 instruction set known as MMX. Today's ruling leaves us free to continue to do so."
McCoy said the court has scheduled a hearing on April 29 at which it will hear arguments on Intel's earlier request for a preliminary injunction. "We are confident that we can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the court that Intel is not entitled to trademark protection for the term MMX," said McCoy.
About AMD
AMD is a global supplier of integrated circuits for the personal and networked computer and communications markets. AMD produces processors, flash memories, programmable logic devices, and products for communications and networking applications. Founded in 1969 and based in Sunnyvale, California, AMD had revenues of $2 billion in 1996. (NYSE: AMD).
