Marvell Fined $1.17 Billion for Using the HDD Ideas of Others

As if the existing patent wars and lawsuits weren't enough for these winter holidays, Marvell has added one more to the pile.

The company has been found guilty of patent infringement of several hard drive technologies owned by Carnegie Mellon University.

No one is going to jail. People seldom do in such situations. Marvell still has to pay a big fine though.

In fact, the sum that it needs to pass along is of $1.17 billion, or 882 million Euro, give or take a few thousand.

It is a sum that even the one Apple was awarded in its dispute again Samsung (whether it restarts or not) cannot match.

Since Marvell's infringement of the patents was ruled willful rather than accidental, the judge may further increase the fine. No clue as to whether or not this will actually happen, however.