London's High Court has recently become a battleground in a battle between Intel and R2 Semiconductor over patented technology. In court, Intel defended itself against infringement charges brought against it by R2 Semiconductor. In February, a regional court in Dusseldorf issued an injunction against Intel, and courts in Italy and France are set to start proceedings in the coming months.

R2 Semiconductor and Intel are currently engaged in a Europe-wide battle over on-chip voltage regulators, a feature of Intel's portfolio of mobile phone, laptop and server processor chips. Recently, the British High Court in London opened a two-and-a-half-week trial, while Richard. Richard Hacon served as the presiding judge in the case.

Chip wars

The court classified the case as "Case Five", which means it is the most complex patent litigation in the UK. Initially, the parties wanted to speed up the proceedings in the British case, with a trial scheduled for September 2023.

However, due to technical complications, the trial has been rescheduled for April 2024. Intel uses Bram. Professor Bram Nauta provided detailed modeling evidence and had Dr. Schafer provide testimony on how the chip would operate. In addition, R2 Semiconductor has applied to amend the claims of the patents in question.

The patent in question (number EP3376653B) relates to overvoltage protection for switching converters in integrated circuit units. R2 Semiconductor has developed high-frequency semiconductor technology for power management, for example, patent EP3376653B covers voltage regulation technology.

A dispute arose in Germany

R2 Semiconductor claims that the "fully integrated voltage regulator" technology used in the last three generations of Intel processors, including Intel Core and Xeon chips, infringes patent EP3376653B. In response, Intel has filed a countersuit to revoke the patent.

In a lawsuit filed in Germany in February 2024, the Dusseldorf Regional Court upheld R2 Semiconductor's claims, finding that certain Intel central processing units embedded in electronic devices infringed the plaintiff's patents.

Then, on March 8, the Dusseldorf High Regional Court also rejected Intel's request to suspend the enforcement of the injunction while the patent validity case is being heard. A judge will hear the case in October 2024.

It is reported that in the German lawsuit, as Intel customers, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Dell (Dell) and HPE company as defendants in the case.

Other parts of Europe

Intel has filed a counterclaim to the German Federal Patent Court to revoke the patent. In December 2023, the court issued an opinion saying that the patent case had little chance of success. For now, the sales ban against Intel remains in effect in Germany.

At the same time, R2 Semiconductor has also sued Amazon and Fujitsu in the city's district court. In seeking an injunction, the company claimed the defendants used Intel's infringing chips in their products.

In a press release sent out at the time, R2 Semiconductor's CEO, David. David Fisher, chief Executive of the company, said: "R2's integrated voltage regulation technology is critical to Intel's products. However, R2 has not received any recognition or compensation for its innovations. We are fully prepared to enforce the ban in Germany and look forward to the opportunity to demonstrate that Intel's products should receive a similar ban in the UK and pay the appropriate damages."

Fisher continued: "Unfortunately, we now have to seek further relief measures in other European countries such as France. But instead of doing the right thing, Intel seems intent on fighting it in court."

Intel also filed a lawsuit in Italy, saying it did not infringe patent EP3376653B in that country. In addition, on April 8, R2 Semiconductor also announced that it has launched a lawsuit in the Paris Court of Justice against Intel and its customers HP, Dell and HPE. However, the patent owner did not choose the Unified Patent Court. (Compiled from www.juve-patent.com)

Translated by Liu Peng Proofread by Wu Xian