Intel beats VLSI in $3.1bn Texas suit

In a surprise turn of events at the District Court for the Western District of Texas yesterday, April 21, a jury ruled in favour of Intel in the tech company’s second patent trial against VLSI Technology, in which the latter was seeking $3.1 billion in damages.

The news comes less than two months after a jury in the same court ruled against Intel, delivering a record-breaking $2.18 billion damages award to VLSI, a unit of the hedge fund Fortress Investment Group.

Intel is seeking a new trial in that case, and has said it intends to appeal the $2.18 billion verdict.

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Yesterday’s ruling, made in Waco, was handed down in the fourth patent trial to take place in Alan Albright’s court since his appointment in 2018 and it was the third victory for a defendant. The first was in MV3 v Roku, which ended in December 2020.

VLSI sued Intel at the Western District of Texas in April 2019, alleging that the tech company had infringed its patent pertaining to speed shift technology.

A third trial in Albright’s court over similar patented technology is scheduled for June.

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