Mellon University has accused Marvell company of violating two of its patents, and the District Court of Pittsburgh recently recognized the developer of controllers for hard disk drives guilty of willful violation of intellectual property rights, the accused party awarding a penalty in the amount of $ 1.17 billion.
Marvell company does not consider itself guilty, and this is going to challenge the verdict in all appropriate instances. If necessary, it will reach the Federal Court of Appeals in Washington.
Marvell penalty is one of the largest in the history of patent litigation in the U.S., but not a record. The amount of $ 1.17 billion is a quarter of Marvell capitalization. This is much more than what Marvell earns per year in the form of profit. Even if Marvell fails to completely prove its innocence, the amount of the fine may be repeatedly reduced because the calculation methods in such disputes, sometimes is substantially different.