Broadcom CEO Dr Henry Nicholas said:
"The jury's unanimous verdict clearly recognised that Broadcom products implementing two of the most widely deployed industry standards, MPEG and Ethernet, do not infringe the Intel patents. This is an important victory not just for Broadcom but for the communications and networking marketplaces as well."
The jury rejected Intel's claims that its networking patent covered all 10/100 Base-T Ethernet networks. 10/100 Base-T Ethernet is the international standard used to connect computers together in the vast majority of all computer networks worldwide. The invalidated Intel patent was originally issued to Dayna Communications and involved an invention used in the implementation of the now outdated Appletalk networking protocol. That patent, which was issued in 1990 and which was acquired by Intel in 1997 as part of its acquisition of Dayna, had never previously been asserted. In the first assertion of that 11-year-old patent, Intel chose to assert it only against Broadcom. According to Broadcom, if Intel's claims had been upheld, the patent would have covered the products shipped by nearly every computer networking company in the world.
The company added that the issues of Intel's patent misuse and inequitable conduct will be decided by the U.S. District Court in Delaware at a later date.
Intel is still suing Broadcom in a separate action over another three Intel patents. In that action, Broadcom is counter-claiming that it is the victim of unfair business practices. Intel last week settled another infringement claim with Via Technologies of Taiwan. Again, both companies are continuing to argue other infringement lawsuits.