back to article Marvell: NO WAY should we have to pay jumbo $1.54bn patent judgment

Fabless semiconductor firm Marvell has fired the opening volley in its appeal of the record-breaking $1.5bn judgment against it in its ongoing patent dispute with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). "No patent infringement judgment for more than a billion dollars has ever received this Court's imprimatur, and the $1.535 billion …

  1. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Unhappy

    "yet all declined, citing prior art. I"

    I've always wondered if when one of these cases happens the "prior art" document is incorporated into the list of documents the USPTO should check the to see if this has been done before.

    Doing this should widen the knowledgebase sufficiently to stop later attempts at patents from being accepted, filtering out rubbish.

    Nahhhhh.

    That would prevent the pack of scum bag lawyers involved from trousering the large green. they love so much and deprive the USPTO of income.

    so probably not.

  2. Brangdon

    Can't they just pay it...

    from the profits from Guardians of the Galaxy?

    1. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

      Re: Can't they just pay it...

      But at my back I always hear

      Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near;

      And yonder all before us lie

      Deserts of vast eternity.

      Thy beauty shall no more be found,

      Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound

      My echoing song: then worms shall try

      That long preserved virginity,

      And your quaint honour turn to dust,

      And into ashes all my lust:

  3. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    Dilly-dallying lawyers should be disbarred

    One side says infringement, the other side says prior art, nobody shows any proof of anything.

    If there is prior art, SERVE IT UP then ! And get the patent erased from USPTO by legal order.

    What ? Not possible ? The USPTO is only a rubber-stamp organisation serving the interests of wealthy patent holders ?

    Pfff.

  4. Kevin Johnston

    USPTO liability?

    Is there anything in the rules under which the USPTO is governed/runs to exempt them from liabiity when they issue these patents which can be shown to ignore a library of prior-art?

    It would be interesting to see if the lawyers could be set on the USPTO instead to try to make them do the job they are supposed to do. Plus that would keep the lawyers too busy to interfere in real life.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: USPTO liability?

      No, they have no liability. The reason they approve bad patents is because congress has made the USPTO self-funding. They charge for approved patents, not rejected ones, which provides an incentive to approve questionable patents and leave it up to the courts to sort it out later.

      If they charged for applications, that might fix some of the issues. If it "cost" them funding when an approved patent was rejected by the courts, it might help further. Requiring some true presence in East Texas to file suit there might help too, jurisdictional shopping should be stamped out whether for patents or anything else.

      1. xehpuk

        Re: USPTO liability?

        What? If they don't charge anything for rejected applications. Not only would it provide an incentive to approve questionable patents. It will also encourage companies and people to send in piles of questionable patent applications. In Sweden I think sending the application in is free but if the fee of 3000 SEK (about $450) is not payed it will not be processed and never reach approval. No refund if its rejected. For approved patents there is a yearly fee, which increases dramatically after some years.

  5. paulc
    Mushroom

    It's software even if in firmware...

    it's all maths and so should have been thrown out as not patentable....

    bloody US patent Office... has got a lot to answer for...

    1. Tom 13

      Re: bloody US patent Office... has got a lot to answer for...

      Yes, but not as much as the Congress which enables it.

  6. roger stillick
    Joke

    Patent Trolls vs. Statutes of limitations...

    US tax laws go back 3 years, US felony laws go back 7 years, US civil laws go back 7 years, US debt collections go back 30 months, Murder is forever....

    IMHO= apparently Patent laws equal Murders, similary to how Corporations are people when it comes to money is free speech (boy am i off topic ,but patent laws are political fodder )...RS.

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