Marvell Ordered To Pay Nearly $1.2 Billion In Damages For Patent Infringement

Marvell Technology Group has been ordered to pay $1.17 billion to Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) over a patent infringement lawsuit.

Marvell to pay nearly $1.2 billion

On Wednesday, a Pittsburgh federal jury found Marvell guilty of infringing on patents stemming from the work of CMU professor Jose Moura and former PhD student Alek Kavcic. Their technology increase the accuracy with which hard-disk drive circuits read data from high-speed magnetic disks.

During the trial, Marvell argued it did not infringe the school's intellectual property and that the technology had been patented in 1995 by other researchers.

Jurors also found Marvell's patent infringement was willful, which could enable trial judge Nora Barry Fischer to award triple damages.

"We are gratified by the jury's unanimous verdict in favor of Carnegie Mellon today in our patent infringement case against Marvell Technology Group Ltd. and Marvell Semiconductor Inc," the university said in a statement. "We felt the evidence we submitted was compelling, and the jury agreed."

It added: "Protection of the discoveries of our faculty and students is very important to us. We appreciate the willingness of the jurors to give us their time and attention during this holiday season to hear our case."

After the ruling was announced, the share price of Marvell, a maker of chips used in PCs and servers, dropped to 10.3 percent, closing at $7.40 on the Nasdaq.

Judge Fischer has set the hearing to consider a final judgment in the case on May 1, 2013, court records show.