UK court rules in Intel's favor in R2 Semi power patent case
- Reference: 1722497414
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/08/01/uk_intel_patent/
- Source link:
California-based chip designer R2 brought the case in late 2023, seeking an injunction barring the sale of certain Intel chips which it [1]claimed [PDF] violated corporate patents. R2 has brought similar cases in numerous other jurisdictions including Germany, France, and Italy.
The patent in question related to on-chip voltage regulators integrated into Intel's chips, designed to protect the silicon from degradation or failure in the case of over voltage.
[2]
R2 alleged that Intel had violated its patents by integrating this technology into the majority of its processors. Intel, meanwhile, argued that R2's patents are invalid.
[3]
[4]
In a judgment [5]released on Wednesday, the court agreed that R2's patents were indeed invalid as they lacked the necessary "inventive step over Sun."
In this case Sun refers to Jian Sun, one of the authors of a paper titled "3D Power Delivery for Microprocessors and High-Performance ASICs" [6]published in 2007 by a team at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York.
[7]
However, it's worth noting that the judge also determined that Intel's products would have violated the patents – had they been valid.
Intel declined to comment. The Register also reached out to R2, but had not heard back at the time of publication.
[8]Craig Wright admits he isn't the inventor of Bitcoin after High Court judgment in UK
[9]Qualcomm sues Chinese handset-maker in India to defend African market
[10]Lenovo hit with higher patent payout, both sides claim a win
[11]Apple crippled watchOS to corner heart-tracking market, doctors say
While the UK court ruled in Intel's favor, the same can't be said of the German courts. Back in February, the Düsseldorf Regional Court [12]found that Intel had infringed on R2's patent, and granted an injunction barring the sale of chips containing the offending tech. That case, unsurprisingly, is under appeal.
Meanwhile, over the past few months R2 has pushed ahead with litigation in other markets. In March, R2 [13]extended its legal fight to Intel's Italian subsidiaries and in April [14]lodged a similar lawsuit in France.
R2 isn't just targeting Intel. It's also going after Intel partners – including OEMs such as HPE, Dell, and Fujitsu as well as cloud provider Amazon Web Services – for using Intel's parts. ®
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[1] https://assets.caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/pat/2024/1974/ewhc_pat_2024_1974.pdf
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZqtcxrabTtlU84sxn3PQMwAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZqtcxrabTtlU84sxn3PQMwAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZqtcxrabTtlU84sxn3PQMwAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://assets.caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/pat/2024/1974/ewhc_pat_2024_1974.pdf
[6] https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4195709
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZqtcxrabTtlU84sxn3PQMwAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/17/craig_wright_isnt_bitcoins_satoshi_nakamoto/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/16/qualcomm_sues_transsion_india/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/15/lenovo_hit_with_higher_patent/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/28/apple_watch_alivecor/
[12] https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240317595568/en/
[13] https://seekingalpha.com/news/4085055-intel-sues-r2-in-italy-to-overturn-eu-patent-seeking-to-curb-its-export-to-germany
[14] https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240408194359/en/R2-Semiconductor-Files-New-Patent-Infringement-Lawsuit-Against-Intel-In-France
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: So, the patents are invalid in the UK
Some quick study shows R2 lost the same case in the U.S. and that the hedge fund Third Point owns 75% of R2 and is funding the litigation.
And now the UK courts state a invalidation due to prior art.
In other words, from here anyway lacking more info, R2 sounds awfully like a patent troll: they took concepts from the openly-published tech paper, applied for patents and then sued as a method of income.
Re: So, the patents are invalid in the UK
I don't know if that's quite true.
Intel won in the UK as the Judge decided the patent was invalid *but* R2's case for infringement was otherwise sound.
In Germany Intel lost as R2's case was sound but it is not clear whether the Judge looked at the validity of the patent underpinning it. So, hypothetically, if the patent is questioned in Germany the result could be the same as the UK.
Either way, I agree it looks like patent trolling ... Reading the case it appears the patent wording is so loose that R2's lawyers can't even decide what half their descriptions mean and the general description is basically splitting a single output rail switch mode into a multiple buck converter bank with smoothing on individual converters - a design which has been used in various forms for decades.
So, the patents are invalid in the UK
But are, apparently, valid in Germany.
So basically, patents are a nightmare everywhere. Until there is one, international patent court, that is. But then, given the farce that is the United Nations, it's pretty clear that we humans are totally incapable of managing anything on a large scale that cannot be corrupted or influenced outside the established rules.
In other words, as a species, we need a benevolent dictator to ruthlessly enforce the rules we have ourselves chosen, because we can't be arsed to do that in the long run.