THE US computer firm Digital Equipment yesterday announced it had filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts against Intel, charging the chip maker with infringement of 10 Digital patents.

The complaint, filed in federal district court, seeks both an injunction to halt the alleged piracy as well as triple damages from Intel.

"Intel's patent infringement has caused Digital economic injury and, if not stopped, would cause irreparable harm," the company charged in a statement.

It said Digital patents, issued between 1988 and 1996, had been used without authorisation to boost the performance of such Intel products as the Pentium, Pentium Pro and Pentium II microprocessors.

The patents relate to technologies that are vital to state-of-the-art microprocessor design, according to Digital.