'WHEN THE CAT AND MOUSE AGREE, THE GROCER IS RUINED" - Heads up to chip manufacturers - Patriot Scientific and the TPL Group have decided to team-up and begin "commercialization" and licensing of a 10 patent portfolio. Previously, Patriot successfully extracted money from AMD, and both companies previously argued with each other for years who owned certain CPU patents. But no more - the prospect of obtaining millions in licensing revenue has apparently smoothed over much of the ill-will that previously existed.

One practitioner described the portfolio as a "patent litigator's dream," and will likely cause great headaches for CPU firms. Three of the 10 patents are "elemental to virtually every microprocessor design",according to the companies. They are 5,809,336; 6,598,148; and 5,784,584.