Carnegie Mellon University has won a $1.17 billion verdict against Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (Nasdaq: MRVL) and Marvell Semiconductor Inc.
On Wednesday, a Pittsburgh jury found that Marvell, a company with U.S. headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., infringed on CMU patents related to “fundamental technology for increasing the accuracy with which hard disk drive circuits read data from high-speed magnetic disks,” according to a statement from K&L Gates LLP, the law firm representing the university.
“We take special pride in this trial victory because of the decades-long relationship between our firm and Carnegie Mellon University and our deep appreciation for CMU’s pathbreaking and leadership role in the Information Age,” said Peter Kalis, K&L Gates’ chairman and global managing partner, in a written statement.
The case, which was filed in March 2009, was heard before Judge Nora Barry Fischer in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
A spokesman for Marvell could not immediately be reached for comment.
The patents in question cover information storage technology systems and are based on work in the university’s Data Storage Systems Center by CMU professor Jose Moura and a then CMU doctoral student Alek Kavcic. Kavcic is now a professor in the electrical engineering department at the University of Hawaii.
The jury found that Marvell sold billions of chips that used CMU-developed technology without a licensing agreement, according to the statement from K&L Gates. On the flip side, Marvell argued that the chips didn’t use the university’s technology and the university’s patents were invalid.
In a written statement sent by Ken Walters, senior media relations director at CMU, the university thanked the jury for its attention to the case during the holiday season, and the school is "gratified" by the result.
"We did not undertake this suit lightly and once we undertook it we did not pursue it lightly," according to the CMU statement. "It was a hard-fought battle every step of the way as we insisted that the rights of our inventors and our industrial partners in the DSSC (Data Storage Systems Center) be fully protected."
The Data Storage Systems Center, like many centers and institutes at CMU, combines faculty, students and industry partners to work on real-world problems.
This case is just one of several technology patent litigation wars that have taken center stage lately.