Intel scores a rare win in multi-billion dollar rollercoaster lawsuit that'll make you say 'Is this really what patent law is like?'

pcgamer.com:

Intel and VLSI have been going at each other for years over alleged patent infringement. For the most part, it had appeared that VLSI would get its way and Intel would be forced to cough up billions in damages, but the tide appears to be turning in Intel's favour.

VLSI owns many patents, though most notably for one major ongoing legal dispute between it and Intel, two—numbered 7,523,373 and 7,725,759—to do with the speed and power demands of processors. The former is titled «Minimum Memory Operating Voltage Technique,» and the latter «System and method of managing clock speed in an electronic device.» They're alleged to be related to the operation of Intel's modern processors.

Back in March '21, VLSI won a court case against Intel in Texas for infringing on these two patents, and a jury decided to award VLSI a grand sum of $2.18 billion for its troubles. To break down the damages by patent, that's $675m in damages for the patent ending in '759 and $1.5B for '373.

Intel's lawyers have been fighting the case tooth and nail ever since to overturn the judgment and not pay the massive fee.

In September 2021, Intel tried to get the case dismissed over a juror's Facebook post, claiming misconduct, which was denied. Then in December 2021, Intel attempted to compel a judge to overturn the verdict and begin a new trial but was again rebuffed.

One year later, in December 2022, Intel and VLSI decided to halt another patent dispute, this time in Delaware. This regarded five patents and sought damages of up to $4.1B, but neither side reportedly paid the other to end the dispute, which means it must've appeared as a stalemate to both parties not worth fighting.

Above: a general timeline of the suing, countersuing, and decisions along