German court orders injunction to block sales of Intel processors in Germany | This decision affects older processors, but not current products. Intel derides Winner as a “patent vandal.”
A district court in Düsseldorf, Germany has ruled in favor of a patent infringement lawsuit against a U.S.-based semiconductor company. intel.
A court has issued an injunction blocking the sale of certain Intel processors in Germany due to alleged infringement of patents owned by Intel. R2 Semiconductorby financial times.
The dispute concerned voltage regulators, and the district court found that Intel had infringed R2 Semiconductor's patent for integrated voltage regulator technology.
The court's ruling, handed down on January 7, 2023, specifically protects Intel's previous generation processors, including the Core series of Ice Lake, Tiger Lake, Alder Lake, and Xeon Scalable Ice Lake Server processors. It is targeted.
The injunction applies not only to processors, but also to personal computers (PCs) and servers based on affected central processing units (CPUs).
Intel's Core “Raptor Lake'' and “Raptor Lake Refresh'' processors, as well as the company's recent product Core Ultra “Meteor Lake'' CPUs, have been exempted from the ruling and can continue to be sold in Germany, it was reported. Financial Times.
Intel said it intended to appeal the court's decision and was “disappointed” by the ruling.
Intel claims R2 is a patent troll
“Intel is a company like R2, which appears to be a shell company whose sole business is litigation, to obtain injunctions on CPUs and other critical components at the expense of consumers, workers, national security, and the economy. “We believe that they should not be allowed to acquire it,” Intel said.said to financial times.
The California-based company accused R2 of being a “patent troll,” claiming it was filing “a series of lawsuits to extract large sums of money from innovators.”
R2 initially filed suit against Intel in the United States, but after successfully contesting the validity of the company's U.S. patents (which were found to be of “low quality”), R2 shifted its litigation direction to Europe. It is claimed that the court has changed the court.
Intel is responsible for any legal costs or compensation that may arise from disputes and is committed to protecting our customers.
“False story”
Following the decision, R2 issued a statement saying it was “pleased” that the court had granted the injunction, and claimed that Inter had “became close” during failed negotiations. . tom's hardware.
according to david fisherIntel's CEO, the two companies were in the final stages of an investment agreement in 2015.
In response to accusations that R2 is a patent troll, Fischer argued that the only organization R2 is accusing of patent infringement is Intel.
“It is not surprising, but disappointing, that Intel continues to spread false stories without accountability for its repeated and chronic patent infringement. We will enforce this injunction and protect valuable intellectual property. I'm going to protect my property.
“The global patent system is exactly here to protect inventors like me and R2 Semiconductor,” Fisher said.
