Intel Corp. v. Broadcom Corp.

173 F. Supp. 2d 201, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18936, 2001 WL 1525817
District Court, D. Delaware·Decided November 20, 2001·No. 00-796-RRM·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

McKELVIE, District Judge.

This is a patent case. Plaintiff Intel Corporation is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Santa Clara, California. Intel owns U.S. Patent Nos. 4,823,201 (the ’201 patent); 4,975,830 (the ’830 patent); 5,894,410 (the ’410 patent); 5,079,630 (the '630 patent); and 5,134,478 (the ’478 patent). Defendant Broadcom Corporation is a California corporation with its principal place of business in Irvine, California.

*205 On August 30, 2000, Intel filed its complaint in this case alleging that Broadcom is infringing, inducing infringement of, or committing acts of contributory infringement of one or more claims of the ’201 patent, the ’830 patent, the ’410 patent, the ’630 patent, and the ’478 patent. In order to simplify the issues before the jury and to shorten the length of the jury trial, the court has since required that the trial proceed in two parts. The first trial is scheduled to begin on November 28, 2001, and will cover the ’201 and the ’830 patents. A subsequent trial will cover the remaining three patents.

On October 10, 2000, Broadcom moved to dismiss Intel’s complaint or, in the alternative, to transfer the action to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. After eleven months of discovery, the court heard oral argument on Broadcom’s motion on September 24, 2001. In a memorandum opinion dated October 9, 2001, the court denied Broadcom’s motion. Broadcom subsequently answered Intel’s complaint on October 23, 2001. As Broadcom had indicated in earlier interrogatory responses, the answer included a number of affirmative defenses relating to license agreements.

In anticipation of these affirmative defenses, Intel has filed three sets of partial summary judgment motions relating to Broadcom’s license defenses. Broadcom has cross-moved for summary judgment on the latter two of these motions.

On September 21, 2001, Intel moved for summary judgment that Broadcom’s allegedly infringing products are not licensed under the ’830 or ’410 patents. Intel argues that the scope of the January 22, 1995 Intel Product Development and License Agreement (the “Joint Development Agreement”) between Intel and Broadcom does not include a license for Broadcom to make, sell, or use the accused products in this suit under either the ’830 or ’401 patent. Broadcom filed its answering brief on October 12, 2001 and later filed a corrected answering brief on October 18, 2001. Intel filed its reply brief in support of its summary judgment motion on October 22, 2001.

On September 28, 2001, Intel moved for summary judgment that Broadcom’s allegedly infringing products are not licensed under an Intel-Motorola license agreement (the “Motorola Agreement”). This motion relates to Broadcom’s affirmative defense that its products accused of infringing the asserted claims of the ’478,-’201, and ’630 patents are licensed by Intel to the extent those products were made for or sold to General Instrument Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Motorola, Inc, pursuant to a June 9, 1997 license agreement between Intel and Motorola that gives Motorola the right to “have [Licensed Products] made” for it. On October 18, 2001 Broadcom cross-moved for summary judgment that the accused products it sells or has sold to General Instrument Corporation are licensed under the Motorola Agreement. On the same day, Broadcom filed its answering brief in opposition to Intel’s motion and opening brief in support of its cross-motion for partial summary judgment. On October 25, 2001, Intel filed its reply brief in support of its motion and answering brief in opposition to Broadcom’s cross-motion. On November 1, 2001, Broadcom replied to Intel’s answering brief.

On October 16, 2001, Intel moved for summary judgment that Broadcom’s accused products are not licensed under Intel license agreements with Sony Corporation, NEC Corporation, Samsung Corporation, Siemens AG, and Compaq Corporation to the extent those products were made for or sold to those companies. On October 30, 2001, Broadcom *206 cross-moved for summary judgment that Broadcom’s sales to various Intel licensees of accused products that qualify as “Licensed Products” under the individual terms of the license agreements are licensed by Intel and are therefore nonin-fringing. The Intel licensees listed by Broadcom are the five companies referred to in Intel’s summary judgment motion and the following seven additional companies: AT & T Corporation, Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Corporation, Hitachi Ltd., Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, and N.V. Phillips Gloeilampenfabrieken. Also on October 30, Broadcom filed its answering brief in opposition to Intel’s summary judgment motion and its opening brief in support of its cross-motion. On November 6, 2001, Intel filed a reply brief in support of its motion and answering Broadcom’s cross-motion. Broadcom filed its reply brief in support of its cross-motion on November 13, 2001.

These five motions for partial summary judgment on license defenses are now fully briefed. This is the courts decision on those motions.

I. DISCUSSION

A. Standard for Decision

At trial, as the party asserting certain affirmative license defenses, Broad-com would bear the burden of proving each of these defenses. See McCoy v. Mitsuboshi Cutlery, Inc., 67 F.3d 917, 920 (Fed.Cir.1995). Acts can be infringements only if they are carried out “without authority.” 35 U.S.C. § 271(a), (f), (g). Thus for each of the license defenses it asserts, Broadcom must prove at trial either that it has a license from Intel that authorizes it to make, use, and sell its accused products or that its development and subsequent sale of accused products to Intel licensees was authorized under those licensees’ licenses with Intel.

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 provides for summary judgment in a party’s favor on “all or any part” of a claim when, upon reviewing the factual record developed by the parties, there is “no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P 56(a), (c).

Under Rule 56, the moving party bears the initial burden of demonstrating the absence of a genuine issue of material fact for trial. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 256, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). The movant may meet this burden by “showing — that is, pointing out to the [ ] court — that there is an absence of evidence to support [the non-moving party’s] case.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).

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Intel Corp. v. Broadcom Corp., 173 F. Supp. 2d 201, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18936, 2001 WL 1525817 (D. Del. 2001).

173 F. Supp. 2d 201 (Intel Corp. v. Broadcom Corp.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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