Cradle IP filed suit against Altera, alleging that Altera’s computer chip field-programmable gate array (FPGA) products infringe a patent related to configurable I/O circuitry defining virtual ports.  Cradle IP is a majority owned subsidiary of Cradle Technologies, which was founded in 1989 as a result of a spin-off from Cirrus Logic. Cradle IP filed one prior suit against Texas Instruments (TI) in December 2011 and TI filed a complaint for declaratory judgment against Cradle IP in March 2012.  The patent-in-suit was issued to Cradle Technologies in April 2001 and was assigned to Cradle IP by Cradle Technologies in November 2011.  Cecil Kaplinksy, the named inventor on the patent-in-suit worked as a consultant for Cirrus Logic and later became one of the founders of Cradle Technologies.  According to the complaint, Cradle Technologies received 16 US patents during the development of their multi-core chip technologies.  10/5, District of Delaware, no judge yet assigned, 1:2012cv01282.