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`BREAKING: Positive COVID Tests Derail Intel Patent Trial
`In WDTX
`
`By Ryan Davis
`Law360 (April 26, 2022, 1:16 PM EDT) -- After multiple positive COVID-19 tests among participants, U.S.
`District Judge Alan Albright of the Western District of Texas on Tuesday canceled the trial in VLSI's billion-
`dollar computer chip patent suit against Intel, and said it would be rescheduled later.
`
`
`VLSI's billion-dollar patent trial against Intel was canceled Tuesday, after multiple positive COVID-19 tests among
`participants. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
`
`On the second day of the trial, which kicked off on Monday in Austin, the judge told the jurors there had
`been positive COVID tests among people working on the case for one of the parties, according to a source
`close to the matter.
`
`Judge Albright then said that out of concern for everyone's safety, he was ending the trial. He said it
`would start over later in the year with a different jury.
`
`The jurors were informed of the positive tests as soon as they arrived for the day, and the courtroom had
`been cleared of everyone except for courtroom staff and two lawyers for each side.
`
`
`Judge Albright's COVID safety protocol for the trial consisted of a questionnaire asking anyone entering
`the courthouse if they had been diagnosed with COVID in the past three weeks, and if they were
`experiencing symptoms of the disease. People who answered yes were advised not to enter the building.
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`U.S. Magistrate Judge Derek Gilliland, who oversaw jury selection, told the parties at a hearing before the
`trial that nothing was known about the vaccination status of the potential jurors, and that no questions
`about that subject would be permitted, due to the possibility of potential violations of the Health
`Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
`
`The trial is the third in a series of high-stakes disputes between the companies, each involving different
`patents. It got underway Monday with opening statements and witness testimony. VLSI is seeking around
`$1 billion in damages from Intel.
`
`VLSI, a patent licensing company backed by hedge fund Fortress Investment Group, accuses Intel of
`infringing a patent originally issued to semiconductor maker NXP BV.
`
`In the first trial in March 2021, a Waco jury returned one of the largest patent verdicts in history, finding
`that Intel infringed two VLSI patents — rejecting an argument that one of them is invalid as anticipated —
`and awarding $2.17 billion in damages.
`
`In the second trial, another Waco jury concluded last April that Intel did not infringe either of the two
`patents in that case, and rejected VLSI's bid for $3 billion in damages. Post-trial motions are pending in
`both of those cases.
`
`On Monday, Intel attorney William Lee of WilmerHale told jurors they would learn from the evidence Intel
`plans to present that its allegedly infringing technology "is different from what's described in the …
`patent."
`
`VLSI attorney Morgan Chu of Irell & Manella LLP told the jury that NXP is focused on developing chips,
`and leaves licensing of its patents to VLSI.
`
`The patent at issue in the latest trial is U.S. Patent No. 7,606,983.
`
`VLSI is represented by Morgan Chu, Benjamin Hattenbach, Iian Jablon, Alan Heinrich, Christopher
`Abernethy, Ian Washburn, Amy Proctor, Elizabeth Tuan, Dominik Slusarczyk, Charlotte Wen, Benjamin
`Monnin, Jordan Nafekh and Babak Redjaian of Irell & Manella LLP, Andy Tindel, J. Mark Mann and G. Blake
`Thompson of Mann Tindel Thompson, and Craig Cherry of Steckler Wayne Cochran Cherry PLLC.
`
`Intel is represented by William Lee, Louis Tompros, Kate Saxton, Gregory Lantier and Amanda Major of
`WilmerHale, J. Stephen Ravel and Kelly Ransom of Kelly Hart & Hallman LLP, Harry Gillam Jr. of Gillam &
`Smith LLP, and James Wren of Baylor Law School.
`
`The case is VLSI Technology LLC v. Intel Corp., case number 1:19-cv-00977, in the U.S. District Court for
`the Western District of Texas.
`
`--Editing by Robert Rudinger.
`
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