Carnegie Mellon University has been awarded $1.5bn by a federal judge who ruled in their favour in a patent infringement case against the Marvell Technology Group.
Marvell Technology Group has been ordered to pay $1.5bn to Carnegie Mellon University for infringing two hard drive patents belonging to the university.
The patents were issued in 2001 and 2002 and related to how accurately hard drives detect the data stored on them. The university was seeking up to $3.7bn and had previously been awarded $1.1bn.
Marvell is said to be planning to appeal the decision. They claim that the technology described in the patents is too complex to be implemented in real-world chips.
Patent lawyer Andrew Alton is quoted on BBC news as saying: “Lots of very significant technology has come out of universities and it is not unusual for them to enforce them. Neither are massive pay-outs unusual.”
Speaking to the BBC, K&L Gates, the law firm representing the university, said: “We are reviewing Judge Fischer’s latest opinion and are pleased that the court addressed both Marvell’s continuing and wilful infringement.
“We understand that Marvell intends to appeal, and we look forward to the federal circuit vindicating Carnegie Mellon University’s intellectual property rights just as Judge Fischer did.”
