Thursday, October 13, 2011

Emulex Ordered To Pay Broadcom In Patent Trial

Costa Mesa-based Emulex reported Thursday afternoon that it has been ordered to pay $387,922 to Irvine-based Broadcom, in a partial verdict in a patent infringement lawsuit. Emulex said that a partial verdict was reached in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, which found that certain serial/deserializers used by Emulex infringed upon patents owned by Broadcom. Emulex said it did not design those serial/deserializer (SerDes) modules, but sourced them from suppliers such as Applied Micro Circuits, LSI Corporation, Renesas (formerly NEC Electronics) and Toshiba. Emulex said it plans to take "appropriate steps" to ensure continued product supply and support to its customers, and may decide to appeal the ruling. Broadcom had earlier claimed that Emulex had infringed on 12 different patents owned by the company; only 6 of those patents went to trail, and verdict on two was reached, with a mistrial declared on the remaining four patents, according to Emulex.

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