Intel succeeds in overturning $2.18bn patent verdict, one of the largest in US

An appeals court in the US on Monday (December 4) overturned a previous verdict awarding USD 2.18 billion to VLSI Technology in a patent infringement case against Intel Corp. This decision has overturned one of the largest verdicts in the history of US patent law.

VLSI Technology holds the patent over which the case was fought.

In 2021, a jury verdict said that Intel infringed one VLSI patent. The case was then sent to Texs in order to determine the amount Intel owes for its infringement of a second VLSI patent.

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On Monday, the Federal Circuit Court held that there was insufficient evidence for the jury to have found that there was patent infringement by Intel on one of the two patents.

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The Washington-based court said that Intel did infringe another VLSI patent, but problems with analysis that led to damages required a fresh trial to be held and a fresh trial to assess how much money needs to be awarded in damages.

Investment funds managed by Fortress Investment Group own VLSI. Earlier this year, Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Investment Co consented to the acquisition of a majority stake in Fortress from Softbank.

Fight across the US

VLSI has taken Intel to court across the US and has made allegations that Intel infringed several of its patents that covered semiconductor technology.

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The first trial that came out of this dispute was heard in Waco, Texas. The jury awarded USD 2.18 billion to VLSI. It found that the patents VLSI acquired from Dutch chipmaker NXP Semiconductors were infringed by Intel microprocessors.

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On Monday morning, Intel stock was down by more than 4 per cent and other chipmakers also saw declines.

In 2021, Intel defeated another bid by VLSI to get more than USD 3 billion in damages in another trial. A separate case before a different jury in Austin, Texas resulted in a USD 949 million award from Intel. This was last year.

(With inputs from agencies)