Patent dispute with VLSI: Intel does not want to accept a fine of 949 million US dollars

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The company VLSI Technology again accuses the chip manufacturer Intel of infringing on patents and once again they were (for the time being) right in court. According to the verdict, Intel is to pay almost 949 million US dollars as a fine. But Intel doesn't just want to accept that.

The said judgment came in a court in the US state of Texas, which is considered a “popular address for patent lawsuits,” reports The Register. In a statement available to the website, an Intel spokesman described VLSI as a patent troll, a company that acquires patents only for the purpose of later being able to demand license fees from others. “This case is just one example of many that shows that the US patent system urgently needs to be reformed,” the Intel spokesman is quoted as saying. Intel therefore wants to appeal the verdict.

There have already been problems with VLSI

This isn't the first VLSI patent dispute that Intel has had to take to court. In the first trial in March 2021, Intel was initially sentenced to a large fine of $2.18 billion. But a month later, the penalty was lifted in a second trial.

It remains to be seen whether Intel will succeed again. According to the report, the use of US patent 7606983 “Sequential ordering of transactions in digital systems with multiple requestors” is objected to. VLSI acquired this patent along with numerous others from the semiconductor company NXP Semiconductors.

As Reuters reports, VLSI complained that Intel's processors from the Cascade Lake and Skylake families held the patent for improvements of data processing.

There are also said to be two other patent lawsuits filed by VLSI against Intel in courts in Delaware and California. However, the latter procedure will not begin until 2024.