Conexant Systems Inc. today announced that a jury reached a verdict on patent infringement counterclaims filed by Texas Instruments Inc., Stanford University and its board of trustees, and found that GlobespanVirata, now a subsidiary of Conexant, willfully infringed three patents related to asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) technology.
 
The patent phase trial began January 4 in federal district court in Trenton, N.J., and today awarded $112 million in damages to Texas Instruments, which the judge in the case has the authority to enhance.

In this two-phase case, no payment of damages between either parties will be required until the conclusion of the second phase, currently scheduled for October.

In June 2003, GlobespanVirata, which merged with Newport Beach, Calif.-based Conexant in February 2004, filed a complaint against Texas Instruments claiming that TI violated U.S. antitrust law by creating an illegal patent pool, manipulating the patent process and abusing the process for setting standards related to ADSL technology.

Two months later, TI filed counterclaims alleging that GlobespanVirata infringed certain ADSL patents. In mid-2004, the case was split into two phases, patent and antitrust, with the patent phase going to trial first. Upon the merger of GlobespanVirata and Conexant in two years ago, Conexant inherited this legal dispute.
 
"We are extremely disappointed with the jury's verdict in the first phase of the case and plan to file several post-trial motions and an appeal," said Dennis O'Reilly, Conexant senior VP and chief legal officer, in a statement. "The second phase of the case, which we believe involves a serious violation of U.S. antitrust law by Texas Instruments, is scheduled to begin in the fall. Should we prevail on all claims in the antitrust phase, the damages awarded today would be eliminated, and we would expect significant damages to be awarded to Conexant from Texas Instruments."

By: DocMemory
Copyright © 2023 CST, Inc. All Rights Reserved