Germany Bans Sale of Certain Intel Processors Following Patent Infringement Case

In a recent ruling, the Dusseldorf District Court in Germany has found Intel guilty of patent infringement against US-based R2 Semiconductor (R2 Semiconductor Company). Consequently, the court has issued an injunction, prohibiting the sale of several Intel processors and devices based on these processors within Germany. This ruling is expected to impact devices from Dell and HP as well.

R2 Semiconductor claims that Intel's Core series processors, including Ice Lake, Tiger Lake, Alder Lake, and Xeon scalable processors, alongside consumer laptops and servers incorporating these processors, have violated its voltage regulation technology European patent.

In response, Intel has argued that R2 Semiconductor's patents were declared invalid in the United States and has accused the company of being a patent troll. Intel believes that entities like R2, which seemingly operate as shell companies solely engaged in litigation, should not be granted injunctions against CPUs and other crucial components, as it would come at the expense of consumers, workers, national security, and the overall economy.

Intel is currently engaged in a legal battle with R2 Semiconductor in the UK and is striving to resolve its longstanding dispute with VLSI.

Regarding the recent injunction imposed by the Dusseldorf District Court, Intel maintains that its products do not infringe upon R2 Semiconductor's patents. The company plans to appeal the ruling and has requested the German Patent Court to declare the patent invalid.

While many of the affected Ice Lake and Tiger Lake processors are already discontinued, mitigating the impact on Intel and its partners, there are still some downsides as some PCs continue to utilize Intel's 12th generation core, "Alder Lake." Boxed and tray versions of these CPUs are still available, potentially leading to some repercussions.

It is worth noting that Intel's latest generation Core series processors, namely Raptor Lake and Raptor Lake Refresh, as well as Core Ultrabook Meteor Lake CPUs, do not infringe upon any of R2 Semiconductor's patents, and therefore, remain unaffected by the sales ban.