Atmel Files Patent Infringement Suit Against Infineon Technologies

SAN JOSE, Calif., July 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Atmel® Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML), a leader in microcontroller and touch solutions, today announced that it had sued Infineon Technologies AG (FSE: IFX /OTCQX: IFNNY) and Infineon Technologies North America Corporation for patent infringement in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.  Atmel's court filing alleges that Infineon's 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit microcontrollers infringe six Atmel patents.  The allegedly-infringing Infineon products are for use in various industrial, commercial and automotive applications.  

Atmel's filing--its first substantive response to a lawsuit Infineon filed on April 11, 2011--also denies Infineon's allegations and seeks a judicial declaration that each of the patents Infineon asserted against Atmel is invalid and not infringed.

"Atmel has an extensive patent portfolio covering a broad range of microcontroller products.  While we did not initiate this litigation, we will always respond strongly when confronted with unfounded infringement claims.  After more closely evaluating the matter, we find that Infineon has used our intellectual property in many of its core products without our permission.  We will prosecute these infringement claims aggressively, continue to review our portfolio, and fully defend ourselves against Infineon's baseless allegations," said Scott Wornow, Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer.

About Atmel

Atmel is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of microcontrollers, capacitive touch solutions, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and radio frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry's broadest intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is able to provide the electronics industry with complete system solutions focused on industrial, consumer, communications, computing and automotive markets.

© 2011 Atmel Corporation. Atmel®, Atmel logo and combinations thereof, and others are registered trademarks or trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other terms and product names may be trademarks of others.

Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements

Information in this release regarding Atmel's expectations and beliefs are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. All forward-looking statements included in this release, especially as they regard litigation matters that are inherently uncertain, are based upon information available to Atmel as of the date of this release, which may change. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results could differ materially from our current expectations.  Other factors that could affect or contribute to different expectations are generally described in Atmel's SEC reports and filings, including the company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010, filed on March 1, 2011, and subsequent Form 10-Q reports. Atmel assumes no obligation and does not intend to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Investor Contact:
Peter Schuman
Director, Investor Relations
(408) 518-8426

SOURCE Atmel Corporation

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