News Intel Wins Massive Patent Case, Avoiding Huge Damages

[Admin]

Intel won a patent infringement case against silicon firm VLSI, avoiding paying a potential multibillion dollar penalty.

Intel Wins Massive Patent Case, Avoiding Huge Damages : Read more

 

[hotaru.hino]

VLSI sues Intel but not every other modern processor manufacturer because they all have similar technology.

Yeah, definitely smells like patent troll.

EDIT: At the very least they should've taken on someone smaller first.

 

[gg83]

Great! I hate patent trolls and I can't see how they befit society at all. I love the quote "Intel is pleased that the jury rejected VLSI’s meritless claims that Intel’s cutting-edge processors infringe expired patents on MP3 player technology,". That made me laugh out loud!

 

[TCA_ChinChin]

Patent trolls have gotten so greedy they actually thought they could take on industry giants like Intel. I just hope that the little guys can also show it to them.

 

[Olle P]

... "Intel is pleased that the jury rejected VLSI’s meritless claims that Intel’s cutting-edge processors infringe expired patents on MP3 player technology,". That made me laugh out loud!

I laughed too. What's Intel's current (not so cutting edge) CPUs have to do with it?
The law suit is all about Intel's actions back when those patents were still in effect...

 

[Gomez Addams]

Patent trolls have gotten so greedy they actually thought they could take on industry giants like Intel. I just hope that the little guys can also show it to them.

This is actually a rather new thing. Most companies capitulate to the trolls because usually their demands are at the level where fighting would be more expensive. Had VLSI sued for far less then Intel would probably have just said, OK because that's what most companies do. They throw a few million at them and say, "go away" and they do. Three billion is way higher stakes and obviously worth the fight.

 

[hotaru.hino]

This is actually a rather new thing. Most companies capitulate to the trolls because usually their demands are at the level where fighting would be more expensive. Had VLSI sued for far less then Intel would probably have just said, OK because that's what most companies do. They throw a few million at them and say, "go away" and they do. Three billion is way higher stakes and obviously worth the fight.

Even if Intel settled, VLSI may start pursuing backpay with interest, inane licensing terms, or get a judge to tell Intel to stop using said technology.

 

[rtoaht]

I laughed too. What's Intel's current (not so cutting edge) CPUs have to do with it?
The law suit is all about Intel's actions back when those patents were still in effect...

He isn't talking about Intel's current CPUs but the CPUs relevant to the lawsuit. Those were cutting edge for the time. On the other hand MP3 players were not known for computationally intensive and so usually manufactured with inferior technology and process node.

 

[Co BIY]

This is actually a rather new thing. Most companies capitulate to the trolls because usually their demands are at the level where fighting would be more expensive. Had VLSI sued for far less then Intel would probably have just said, OK because that's what most companies do. They throw a few million at them and say, "go away" and they do. Three billion is way higher stakes and obviously worth the fight.

This is actually a strategy of the trolls. They harass some of the smaller players into paying royalties because it is cheaper than a law suit and then use these royalty paying victims as proof that their patents are legit and respected by others when they go for the big fish.

It's like a snow ball of victims rolling downhill. Each victim who concedes allows you to extract more from the next.

It probably also has to do with the financialization of the trolling system in this case. VSLI had to go big because that's what they sold investors.

 

[ginthegit]

It's using loop holes in the law.

Intel is a perfect target considering the amount of times that they have nafariously Broken laws in the past. AMD was almost put out of business by it... Saved only by the fact that Intel was sued for enough to keep them afloat.