Ars
Technica: A jury has awarded Carnegie Mellon University
$1.17 billion in damages in the university's patent
infringement lawsuit against Marvell Superconductor. If the
jury's decision is not overturned or the penalty reduced, it
will be the largest patent infringement fine ever, and will
cost Marvell more than one year's profits. At the heart of the
lawsuit are two patents for reducing the noise that occurs when
computers read hard disks. Carnegie Mellon alleged that Marvell
sold 2.34 billion computer chips that violated the patents,
while Marvell claimed it had patent rights that predated the
university's. The lawsuit itself highlights a growing trend of
universities filing lawsuits over the patents they own. Because
universities don't produce any products from their patents,
they have the benefit of not being targets of countersuits.
However, large decisions and settlements such as this one are
not yet common, and most universities end up spending more on
their patents than they gain via litigation.
