“NXP takes a cut from a 2.2 billion dollar patent win”

NXP is reportedly getting a cut from the 2.2 billion dollars that a Texas jury awarded to VLSI Technology in a patent infringement trial against Intel. The patents involved were once owned by NXP, as was VLSI, and the Dutch chipmaker would get a share of any damage award, according to an Intel lawyer. Intel intends to appeal.

The trial involved two patents, one originally issued to Sigmatel in 2010 and another to Freescale in 2012. Freescale bought Sigmatel, and was in turn acquired by NXP in 2015. Confusingly, VLSI Technology was bought by Philips in 1999, and its assets moved to NXP when it was spun off from the conglomerate. Apparently, NXP has spun VLSI back out, as the latter is now a subsidiary of an investment group. The two patents transferred from NXP to VLSI in 2019, according to Bloomberg Law.

An NXP spokesperson declined to comment on the case.