One of the prize plums in the intellectual property market quietly vanished last week, when Sonicblue's ten-year cross-licensing agreement with Intel and a corresponding bus license were unable to be sold at auction.

The ten-year patent cross-license agreement was unable to be transferred, sources at both companies said. Neither company officially acknowledged the license had dissolved, although a Sonicblue spokeswoman said two weeks ago that Sonicblue felt that the license was not legally transferable to another company.

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