Update 2/7/2024 1:40pm PT: We added a statement from R2 Semiconductor to the end of the article.
A regional court in Düsseldorf, Germany, ruled Wednesday that Intel infringed a patent of R2 Semiconductor, a U.S.-based company, and subsequently issued an injunction against sales of some of Intel's previous-gen processors in Germany, according to a report by Financial Times. Dell and HP devices could be impacted, too. The ruling prohibits the sales of select Intel processors and devices based on Intel processors in the country. Intel believes its products do not infringe on R2 Semiconductor's patents and has asked a German patent court to invalidate the patent.
The European patent in question covers voltage-regulating technology. R2 Semiconductor asserts that Intel's Core-series Ice Lake, Tiger Lake, Alder Lake, and Xeon Scalable 'Ice Lake Server' processors, as well as consumer laptops and servers containing those processors, infringe on its patents. Intel disclosed last September that R2 Semiconductor asked the court to stop the sale of products powered by these CPUs and recall the products featuring these processors. The company argued that an 'injunction would be a disproportionate remedy.'
For now, the regional court in Düsseldorf has issued an injunction against sales of Intel's previous-generation CPUs — a decision that Intel plans to appeal. Many Ice Lake and Tiger Lake processors have been discontinued by now, so the sales ban will not harm Intel or its partners significantly. But some PCs still use Intel's 12th Generation Core 'Alder Lake,' and boxed/tray versions of these CPUs are still available.
The good news for Intel is that its current-generation Core 'Raptor Lake' and 'Raptor Lake Refresh' processors, as well as Core Ultra 'Meteor Lake' CPUs, do not infringe any of R2 Semiconductor's patents, so Intel and its partners can continue to sell these processors, and devices based on them, in Germany with no restrictions.
Intel argues that R2 Semiconductor's patent has been invalidated in the U.S., which is why it sued the chip giant in Europe and has even gone so far as to accuse R2 Semiconductor of being a patent troll.
"Intel believes companies like R2, which appears to be a shell company whose only business is litigation, should not be allowed to obtain injunctions on CPUs and other critical components at the expense of consumers, workers, national security, and the economy," Intel told Financial Times.
Regarding the lawsuit in Germany, Intel is protecting its customers by covering any legal costs or damages they might face. As of last September, Intel could not make a realistic guess of the possible 'loss or range of losses that might arise from these lawsuits.'
Intel is also battling R2 Semiconductor in the U.K. and is trying to settle its long-running legal dispute with VLSI.
E2 Semiconductor sent us the following statement from its CEO, David Fisher, after we originally published the article:
"We are delighted that the highly respected German court has issued an injunction and unequivocally found that Intel has infringed R2’s patents for integrated voltage regulators. R2 has been a semiconductor IP developer, similar to ARM and Rambus, for more than 15 years. Intel is intimately familiar with R2’s business —in fact, the companies were in the final stages of an investment by Intel into R2 in 2015 when Intel unilaterally terminated the process."
"R2 had asked if a technical paper Intel had just published about their approach to their FIVR technology, which had begun shipping in their chips, was accurate. The next and final communication was from Intel’s patent counsel. That was when it became clear to me that Intel was using R2’s patented technology in their chips without attribution or compensation."
"That is how these lawsuits emerged, and Intel is the only entity R2 has ever accused of violating its patents. It is unsurprising but disappointing that Intel continues to peddle its false narratives rather than taking responsibility for its repeated and chronic infringement of our patents. We intend to enforce this injunction and protect our valuable intellectual property. The global patent system is here precisely for the purpose of protecting inventors like myself and R2 Semiconductor."
