Daily Archives: 29 December 2012

Marvell Loses $1.17 Billion Patent Infringement Lawsuit

open quoteFrom the WSJ. Congrats, Objectivists, utilitarians, and other pro-IP libertarians. A high-tech firm is persecuted by Carnegie Mellon University. Perversely, Carnegie was represented by K&L Gates, which was founded by the father of Microsoft founder Bill Gates—it’s perverse, given the billions made and monopoly position of Microsoft which is partly a result of the copyright and patent monopolies Microsoft has, courtesy Uncle Sam. . . .

Jury Finds Against Marvell in Patent Case

A jury in Pittsburgh on Wednesday found that chip maker Marvell Technology GroupLtd. MRVL -10.42% should pay nearly $1.17 billion for infringing patents held by Carnegie Mellon University.

If the jury’s decision stands, the award would rank among the largest to date in a patent case.

The university sued Marvell in 2009 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, alleging that the company infringed patents covering technology associated with “noise predictive detection,” which is used in data-storage systems.

Marvell, which is based in Santa Clara, Calif., is known for chips used in data-storage applications.

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In India, police shoot dead journalist covering protest

open quoteNew York, December 24, 2012–Indian authorities must immediately investigate the death of a cameraman who was fatally shot by police on Sunday while covering protests against the sexual assault of women. The Associated Press identified the journalist as Bwizamani Singh, a reporter for the news division of the satellite-distributed Prime News channel that covers northeast India. Other reports have provided different spellings of Singh’s name.

Singh was covering a rally in Imphal, the capital of Manipur state, when he was shot by police firing on protesters. Local news accounts reported that police said Singh was shot by accident while they were trying to disperse protesters with live ammunition. Five police officers have been suspended, the reports said. close quote (Read more)