Intel has informed AMD that it’s in breach of their 2001 patent cross-license and if the companies don’t come to terms in the next 60 days it’s going terminate the license and AMD won’t be able to make x86 chips anymore ­ at least not legally.

The trigger for this charge ­ which has been on Intel’s mind for months ­ happened two weeks ago when AMD’s finally spun off its manufacturing plants into an entity called GlobalFounderies that’s 62% owned by Persian Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi through its sovereign fund Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC).

Intel claims GlobalFounderies isn’t a subsidiary under the terms of the Intel-AMD deal and so isn’t licensed to make x86 chips.

Intel general counsel Bruce Sewell says, “AMD cannot unilaterally extend Intel’s licensing right to a third party without Intel’s consent.”

He also said in a statement that “We are willing to find a resolution but at the same time we have an obligation to our stockholders to protect the billions of dollars we’ve invested in intellectual property.”

AMD’s response, memorialized in an SEC filing this morning, is to say that it has not breached the cross-license, that Intel has no right to terminate AMD’s rights under the cross license, and furthermore that Intel’s mere suggestion that AMD might be in breach is itself a breech of the agreement and that, as a result, AMD now has the right to terminate Intel’s rights under the cross-license without undoing its own.

Got that? According to AMD there’s no way for either company to exit the 2001 cross-license. My goodness, everybody’s lawyers must have really nodded off on that one.

It’s hard to tell if, as Intel claims, the structure of the deal between AMD and ATIC breaches the license because the relevant parts of the license are sealed. Intel says it wants them un-redacted but can’t get AMD to cooperate.

It is believed the deal gives Abu Dhabi way too much veto power for Intel’s taste and that AMD would have to own 51% of the joint venture.

Intel says the next step ­ according to terms of license agreement ­ is to go to mediation. If the companies find no common ground there, well, then Intel says it’s prepared to take AMD to court.

Although nobody’s admitting it, everybody knows that the price of resolving the license dispute is for AMD to abandon its massive antitrust suit against Intel in the US and elsewhere and withdraw its antitrust charges against Intel with the European Commission although the EC action now has a life of its own.

Indicative of that point, along with the brief SEC filing AMD circulated a statement to the press saying, “Intel’s action is an attempt to distract the world from the global antitrust scrutiny it faces. Should this matter proceed to litigation, we will prove not only that Intel is wrong, but also that Intel fabricated this claim to interfere with out commercial relationships and this has violated the cross-license.”

Intel sent AMD the notice of breach after the two companies had a face-to-face meeting probably last week.

AMD’s answer was the same one it sent to the SEC. Intel calls AMD’s position “inconsistent with the dispute resolution process outlined in the original agreement.”