Nvidia Lampoons Intel With Cartoon Site

The Web site, dubbed "Intel's Insides," was apparently launched in September by Nvidia and features a series of black-and-white cartoons that poke fun at Intel. But it's highly unlikely Intel will find the jokes funny. Two of the five cartoons portray Intel CEO Paul Otellini as being complicit in the recent bribery and coercion charges brought against Intel by New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo this week in a federal antitrust lawsuit .

One such cartoon, dated Oct. 4 and apparently created well in advance of this week's antitrust lawsuit, portrays Otellini as Marlon Brando from "The Godfather" with the quote, "We'll make them a microprocessor offer they can't refuse "

Another more recent cartoon, dated Nov. 4, shows Otellini at a podium waving his finger and issuing staunch denials against the bribery and coercion charges in a manner reminiscent of former President Bill Clinton's denials about having sex with intern Monica Lewinsky.

" 'Intel's Insides' is intended to be a parody of events occurring within the semiconductor sector, with particular focus on its largest, and most-commented-upon competitor," the site states. "Intel's Insides," which is linked to Nvidia's corporate blog , features five cartoons in all from longtime editorial cartoonist Steven Lait. According to Lait's Web site, the cartoons are original works commissioned by Nvidia for the purposes of a "blog covering issues in the semiconductor industry with a focus on competition."

The cartoon site adds a new level of vitriol to the squabble between Nvidia and Intel. Earlier this year, Intel sued Nvidia over allegations that Nvidia breached a contract by marketing its chipsets for Intel Nehalem-class processors. Nvidia countersued Intel over a patent-licensing dispute and is trying to end Intel's agreement to license Nvidia's patent portfolio. While the companies still do business together -- Intel licensed Nvidia's technology for linking multiple graphics processors -- the bitter legal battles are still raging, and so is the war of words.

Intel seems bent on hammering the smaller Nvidia into submission, warning the company away from its turf in the CPU market. Nvidia, on the other hand, is hell-bent on taking Intel down a peg or two and rarely passes up an opportunity to fire an attack against the big bad chip maker.

With Intel and Nvidia already engaged in a legal battle, the cartoon site could lead to even more litigation between these two Silicon Valley giants.