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Nvidia counter-sues Intel
Nvidia on Thursday countersued Intel, alleging the rival chip company of breach of contract related to a chip licensing agreement between the companies. The countersuit escalates an ongoing patent-licensing battle between the companies, which disagree on the interpretation of memory technology in Intel’s chips and its compatibility with Nvidia’s chipsets. In a filing, Nvidia asked the judge to declare that Nvidia is allowed to make chipsets that support Intel’s Nehalem and future processors that incorporate the new memory technology. The suit comes in response to Intel’s suit last month in the same court asking a judge to declare Nvidia is not licensed to produce chipsets compatible with such chips, despite a cross-licensing agreement between the two companies.
Google lays off 200 staff
Proving that it is not immune to the economic downturn, Google plans to lay off 200 people in its sales and marketing group, an executive said on Thursday. The changes affect workers globally, Omid Kordestani, Google senior vice president of global sales and business development wrote on the official Google blog. They will be given an unspecified amount of time to look for other positions in Google and will get severance packages if they don’t find another job with the search company. The layoffs will help Google correct some mistakes it made during a period when it grew rapidly, he said.
Dell sued for alleged discrimination
A lawsuit that accuses Dell of discriminating against women and older workers continues to make its way though the courts. In a filing last week, Dell denied allegations that it had treated employees unfairly and said no layoffs were made on the basis of age or sex. The layoffs were consistent with Dell’s business needs and not targeted at particular employees, the company said in a court filing on March 18. Dell announced in May 2007 that it planned to lay off 8,800 workers, or about 10 percent of its workforce, as part of its efforts to cut costs. The lawsuit was filed in October last year by four former human-resources executives who are seeking US$500 million for the alleged discrimination.
More IBM US layoffs expected
Amid reports that it is moving thousands of jobs from the US to India, IBM said Thursday it is notifying employees that some jobs are being eliminated. The Wall Street Journal reported that IBM is planning to lay off about 5,000 U.S. employees, with many of the jobs being transferred to India. It cited people familiar with the situation. The latest round of cuts target the company’s global business-services unit, according to reports. India has emerged as key location for IBM and other multinational services companies for the global delivery of services. IBM is estimated to have over 80,000 staff in services delivery and sales in India.
…And those are the top stories from the IDG Global IT News Update, brought to you by the IDG News Service. I’m Sumner Lemon in Singapore. Join us again later for more news from the world of technology.
