Intel has vowed to fight a judgement from a US court ordering it to pay nearly $2.2 billion to patent holding company VLSI Technology for alleged infringement of certain chip technology.
An Intel representative told Mobile World Live it “strongly disagrees with the jury’s verdict” and is confident “we will prevail” in an appeal.
Bloomberg reported the jury determined Intel infringed two patents owned by VLSI Technology covering methods to increase the power and speed of computing chips.
Stanford Law School professor Mark Lemley noted in a tweet the award was the “second largest patent verdict ever”, but added “I believe every patent verdict over $1 billion has been overturned or reduced on appeal. We’ll see if this one survives”.
VLSI Technology is an affiliate of SoftBank-owned Fortress Investment Group.
The ruling is connected to a wider patent battle between Intel and Fortress Investment Group.
Courts have twice dismissed a joint effort by Intel and Apple to prove patent claims made by Fortress Investment Group and affiliates including VLSI Technology amounted to anti-competitive behaviour by effectively taxing the electronics industry.
