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Silicon Valley firms lose patent verdict Dallas Texas Instruments Inc. said Wednesday it had won a $51.8 million judgment against three Silicon Valley companies that a jury found had infringed on the semiconductor company's patents.
The federal district court jury found Cypress Semiconductor Corp. and VLSI Technology Inc., of San Jose, and LSI Logic Corp., of Milpitas, had deliberately infringed on the patents. It said they had done this by making semiconductor devices with a plastic encapsulation process developed by Texas Instruments.
The jury ordered Cypress to pay $17.8 million damages, VLSI to pay $19.4 million and LSI to pay $14.6 million, Texas Instruments said. The company said that the judge had the power to triple the damages, because the violation had been deliberate.
Dallas-based Texas Instruments developed and patented the process for encapsulating semiconductors in plastic in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Cypress, LSI and VLSI contend the patents for the integrated circuit packaging technology expired in 1990 and 1994. They said late Wednesday that they consider the verdict to be in error and will appeal. Hilton to spin off casino business Beverly Hills Hilton Hotels Corp. announced Thursday that it plans to split its hotel and casino businesses, saying the two would do better if they were on...