Tulip and Dell settle three-year patent dispute

Dutch PC maker Tulip Computers International has settled a three-year-old patent dispute with Dell Computer.

Under terms of the settlement, Tulip will receive $49.5m (£30m), with less than $10m (£6.1m) coming directly from Dell, the computer company said. In turn, Dell can claim that it has not infringed on a patent for circuit-board technology registered by Tulip in the US.

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The agreement includes a non-exclusive licence of Tulip's motherboard design to Dell.

Tulip filed suit against Dell in November 2000 in the US District court for the District of Delaware, accusing Dell of copying a patented motherboard design and using it in some of its Optiplex desktop PCs.

At the time, the Dutch company said the infringement covered about $17bn (£10.4bn), company's sales over the three-year period, adding that licence fees for the type of patent in question generally amount to between 1% and 5% of the revenue they generate.

John Blau writes for IDG News Service