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Baffle 'em With Lawsuits (4/14/98)
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In other chipmaker news, raise your hand if you remember Exponential. (Okay, you can put your hand down, now-- you probably look pretty silly, raising your hand while sitting in front of your computer.) They, of course, were the company working on the x704 PowerPC-compatible processor that, at 500 MHz, was supposed to blow the doors off the conventional PowerPC's, let alone anything the PC world could cobble together. Unfortunately, the reality was that they couldn't get the x704 ready soon enough to be competitive; it wasn't appreciably faster, if at all, than the upcoming G3's and sucked down a lot more power. Apple, a primary financial backer, then announced that they wouldn't be using the x704 after all, and Exponential promptly closed its doors.
Soon after, Exponential sued Apple for essentially putting them out of business; that case is ongoing. Exponential also auctioned off its patents for certain technologies that were used in its stillborn x704 processor. That brings us to last Monday-- when Apple filed its own lawsuit against Exponential, claiming a "breach of fiduciary duty." Apparently Apple is trying to prevent Exponential from "disposing" of the money they got from the patent auction, and they want a court-appointed custodian to take charge of the proceeds. A Reuters story has more.
While we're not entirely sure as to what's going on, it sounds like Apple's trying to get a cut of the cash from the patent sale. Given that Apple was in fact Exponential's biggest investor, it does seem possible that they are entitled to their share of the proceeds-- though in light of the $500 million lawsuit they face from Exponential, we can't imagine that a cut of the patent money would amount to much. As usual, time will tell. We're just thrilled to see that courtroom drama will always have a place here at AtAT.
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 4/14/98 episode: April 14, 1998: Finally, an illicit photo of the long-rumored Apple Media Player makes an appearance. Meanwhile, Intel feels the pinch of the steady growth of the low-cost computer market, and yet another lawsuit enters the plot-- this time it's Apple suing Exponential...
Other scenes from that episode: 626: So THAT'S An AMP (4/14/98) The torrent of media coverage of Apple's Columbus project stopped a while ago, but Apple Recon just keeps talking about it. In recent weeks they've grown increasingly concerned that Apple was going to kill the Apple Media Player set-top project before the final product could make it into stores... 627: Hey Buddy-- Spare a PII? (4/14/98) Things aren't looking quite as sunny for Intel these days. Its profits this past quarter fell a whopping 27%, due to lukewarm demand for its processors. In the words of the lovely and talented Katie, AtAT's resident fact-checker and goddess of minutiae, "They must not be shakin' their groove thing."...
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