US Appeals Court Rejects Jury’s $2.18bn Patent Infringement Damages Award Against Intel

US Appeals Court Rejects Jury’s $2.18bn Patent Infringement Damages Award Against Intel

It was considered as one of the largest-ever amount for damages

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) has rejected the verdict from the Texan jury that chipmaker Intel must pay $2.18bn in damages to the patent-holding company VLSI for infringing two of its patents.

However, Circuit judges Alan Lourie, Timothy Dyk, and Richard Taranto agreed with some of the March 2021 jury verdicts from the US District Court for the Western District of Texas.

While they affirmed infringement of one patent (‘373) covering the memory and processing of the integrated circuits, the judges reversed the jury finding of infringement of the second patent (‘759).

The CAFC vacated the damages award for the ʼ373 patent and remanded it for a new trial limited to damages. In reversing the finding of infringement of the '759 patent, the court agreed with Intel’s argument that VLSI’s doctrine of equivalents theory to prove infringement was ‘legally insufficient’.

Notably, in the US, at times the doctrine is invoked in infringement actions if the accused product does not literally infringe a patent invention but does so under the doctrine of equivalents.

In May, the US Patent and Trademark Office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) found the ‘759 patent invalid. The PTAB-instituted trial found that all seven claims that were challenged, were unpatentable and denied the patent owner’s motion to exclude.

VLSI was represented by Jeffrey A Lamken, Rayiner Hashem, and Michael Gregory Pattillo Jr of MoloLamken LLP and Morgan Chu, Benjamin W Hattenbach, Alan J Heinrich, Amy E Proctor, Dominik Slusarczyk, Charlotte J Wen, Babak Redjaian of Irell & Manella.

Intel was counseled by William F Lee, Alison Burton, Lauren B Fletcher, Joseph J Mueller, Steven Jared Horn, Amanda, L Major, and Mary Virgina Sooter of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.