Intel forced to cough up $949 million in patent troll to VLSI

Intel has been ordered by a federal jury in Texas to pay VLSI Technology LLC a rather large sum for patent infringement, costing Intel $948.8 million.

If you didn't know who VLSI is, they're a patent-holding company that's associated with SoftBank Group Corp-owned private equity firm Fortress Investment Group, who argued during the six-day trial that Intel's previous-gen Cascade Lake and Skylake processors violated their patents covering improvements to data processing.

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An Intel spokesperson said that the company "strongly disagrees" with the verdict (of course) and that the company has plans to appeal, with the Intel spokesperson adding that the case is "one example of many that shows the U.S. patent system is in urgent need of reform". VSI's own law firm declined for comment.

This isn't the only time that VSLI has battled Intel in court over chip patents, where back in March 2021 the company nearly secured close to $2.2 billion (!!!) from Intel in a totally separate Texas trial over other chip patents, which Intel has appealed. In April 2021, VLSI lost a separate patent-related trial against Intel.

In a statement to The Register, Intel explained: "VLSI is a 'patent troll' created by Fortress, a hedge fund that is bankrolled by large investment groups for the sole purpose of filing lawsuits to extract billions from American innovators like Intel. This is the third time that Intel has been forced to defend itself against meritless patent infringement claims made by VLSI. Intel strongly disagrees with the jury's verdict and the excessive damages awarded. We intend to appeal and are confident in the strength of our case".