Intel loses patent lawsuit and receives injunction to stop sales of some chips, shipments of Dell and HP devices may also be prohibited

Intel has lost a patent lawsuit with semiconductor company ``R2 Semiconductor'' that was being fought in a German court. The court has ordered Intel to stop selling the infringing product, and Intel plans to appeal.

German patent court rules against Intel over some of its chips
https://www.ft.com/content/981f3b39-30f5-4da2-9819-23bebc1a8846

Some Intel chips banned in Germany after company loses patent spat — Alder Lake, Ice Lake, and Tiger Lake chips impacted [Updated] | Tom's Hardware
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/german-court-issues-injunction-against-sales-of-select-intel-cpus

The issues at issue in the lawsuit were the 10th generation Core processor 'Ice Lake,' the 11th generation Core processor 'Tiger Lake,' the 12th generation Core processor 'Alder Lake,' and the 3rd generation Xeon 'Ice Lake-SP.' This is a voltage adjustment function. R2 Semiconductor filed suit in the US, UK, and Germany, claiming that ``Intel's voltage regulation function infringes R2 Semiconductor's patent.'' On Wednesday, February 7, 2024, a German court recognized Intel's patent infringement and ordered Intel to stop selling the infringing product. A person involved in the trial said, ``Sales of certain Dell and HP devices may also be prohibited.''

Intel is dissatisfied with the ruling and has indicated that it will appeal. Intel also stated, ``R2 Semiconductor is pursuing lawsuits to extort money from innovators like Intel'' and ``R2 Semiconductor appears to be a shell company whose only business is litigation. 'Companies should not be allowed to obtain injunctions on CPUs and other critical components at the expense of consumers, workers, national security, and the economy,' he said, criticizing R2 Semiconductor.

On the other hand, R2 Semiconductor CEO David Fisher said, ``R2 Semiconductor, like Arm and Rambus, has been developing semiconductor IP for over 15 years. 'In 2015, when the investment plan was nearing its final stage, Intel unilaterally ended the plan.' 'We contacted Intel regarding the technical documentation for FIVR (power saving function) installed in Intel products. As a result, it became clear that Intel had been using R2 Semiconductor's patents without attribution or compensation.This is how the lawsuit came about, and we have decided not to file patent lawsuits against companies other than Intel. 'It is unfortunate, but not surprising, that Intel is spreading false stories without taking responsibility for its repeated patent infringements.' We emphasize that we are a company that pursues profits.

In addition, R2 Semiconductor first filed a lawsuit against Intel in the United States, but Intel won the lawsuit in the United States. In addition, the 13th generation Core processor ``Raptor Lake'' and the 14th generation Core processor ``Raptor Lake Refresh'' do not use the technology at issue.