In a nutshell: Regardless of current as little greater than an empty shell beneath the management of the personal fairness agency Fortress Funding Group, VLSI continues to pursue billions of {dollars} from Intel. Nevertheless, a current jury trial delivered a verdict in favor of Chipzilla – a choice that might doubtlessly derail Fortress’s complete monetization technique.
After a three-day jury trial, the U.S. District Courtroom for the Western District of Texas dominated that VLSI Expertise LLC and Finjan Inc. are each beneath the management of funding administration agency Fortress Funding Group. Intel had a licensing settlement with Finjan, and the jury agreed with Intel’s argument that the identical settlement extends to VLSI’s patents allegedly utilized by the corporate prior to now.
This new verdict may have far-reaching penalties for the continued authorized battle between Intel and VLSI. In an earlier trial, Fortress claimed that Intel had infringed a patent VLSI acquired from Dutch agency NXP Semiconductors NV. The expertise in query was stated to help the chip design course of, though Intel maintained it was not utilized in any of its CPUs.
In 2022, a federal jury in Texas ordered Intel to pay practically $1 billion in damages for the alleged infringement. Intel has since argued that the case must be revisited, asserting that its 2012 settlement with Finjan covers the patent in query – since each Finjan and VLSI fall beneath Fortress’s “frequent management.”
Throughout the newest trial, Intel’s legal professionals argued – efficiently – that VLSI and Finjan are managed by the identical people linked to Fortress Funding Group. Two of VLSI’s three board members are Fortress staff, and the identical is true for a majority of Finjan’s board. VLSI’s authorized staff claimed these people act within the curiosity of traders, not Fortress itself.
Now that the district court docket has sided with Intel, Fortress could also be pressured to rethink – and even abandon – its complete technique to extract billions from the chipmaker. VLSI had beforehand received the same case towards Intel and was awarded an enormous $2.2 billion in damages. With this new verdict, these mixed $3 billion in patent infringement rulings may very well be overturned.
Fortress acquired management of VLSI and INVT SPE LLC by way of its funding funds, having access to a portfolio of doubtless profitable expertise patents. It then launched a number of patent infringement lawsuits towards Intel, Apple, HTC, and different telecom corporations.
Critics say Fortress and VLSI are performing as patent trolls, leveraging litigation for revenue relatively than innovation. The newest choice in Intel’s favor means that this monetization technique could also be on the verge of collapsing.
