SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - InterVideo Inc., the top maker of DVD playback software used in personal computers, on Monday said it had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Dell Inc., the world's No. 1 PC maker. Separately, InterVideo reported a quarterly loss, weighed down by a write-off of research and development costs tied to its acquisition of a controlling stake in Taiwan's ULead. The patent complaint, the latest case InterVideo has pursued against major PC makers, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Dell, the company said in a statement. InterVideo alleges Dell violated its U.S. Patent No. 6,765,788 that covers the integration of certain PC and electronic device functions. The company's software allows a DVD disk to automatically start playing a movie when a user inserts a disk into a computer running an InterVideo program. Dell spokesman Lionel Menchaca said his Round Rock, Texas-based company had no comment on the lawsuit, citing company policy against commenting on pending litigation. Last year, InterVideo filed two patent infringement suits against Taiwan's Acer Inc., one in U.S. federal court and the other in a Taiwanese district court, for infringement of patents tied to its "InstantON" technology. InterVideo said in a statement that it resolved these cases with Acer to its satisfaction. Source: Reuters
