A federal jury in the US ordered chipmaker Marvell Technology to pay $1.17bn in damages for patent infringement following a lawsuit filed by Carnegie Mellon University in 2009.
The jury of the US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, in Pittsburgh found that Marvell infringed two of university’s patents which were issued in 2001 and 2002.
The lawsuit involves fundamental technology for increasing the accuracy with which hard disk drive circuits read data from high speed magnetic disks.
According to the university, the systems and methods were developed and patented by Jose Moura, a professor in the University’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Aleksandar Kavcic, a student of Moura who is now a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Hawaii.
The university said: "We are gratified by the jury’s unanimous verdict in favor of Carnegie Mellon today in our patent infringement case against Marvell Technology Group and Marvell Semiconductor."
"We felt the evidence we submitted was compelling, and the jury agreed. Protection of the discoveries of our faculty and students is very important to us," added the university.
A spokesman for Marvell was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying that, "The company was disappointed by the verdict but hopeful the judge would reverse the finding based on post-trial motions. If unsuccessful in that effort, Marvell will appeal."
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