Intel has suffered a legal defeat in a patent lawsuit with drastic consequences. Henceforth, Intel is no longer permitted to sell certain processors in Germany because they are said to infringe R2 Semiconductor’s patents.
A slight blessing in disguise: the sales ban issued by the Düsseldorf Regional Court does not include any brand-new processors, at least for the moment, but only models from the Ice Lake, Tiger Lake and Alder Lake generations, as well as the Xeon processors from the Ice Lake generation. Since the sales ban only applies to Germany, Intel may well have fewer problems with any old stock. Issues may arise, for example, if (special) users require an older CPU as a replacement.
At its core, the legal dispute revolves around a kind of power supply technology in the processors. The recent victory at the Düsseldorf District Court comes on the back of successful proceedings in December 2023, which confirmed the validity of R2’s patent.
The fronts between R2 and Intel are likely to have hardened, with an Intel spokesperson describing R2 as a company whose business activities solely consist of legal disputes. R2 has denied the accusation, stating that Intel was originally interested in investing in R2, but withdrew from negotiations shortly before a deal was reached in 2015.
In addition to a sales ban, Intel is also required to provide R2 with information about products sold in Germany that are affected by the sales ban. Intel has announced that it would attempt to appeal the ban.
I have been active as a journalist for over 10 years, most of it in the field of technology. I worked for Tom’s Hardware and ComputerBase, among others, and have been working for Notebookcheck since 2017. My current focus is particularly on mini PCs and single-board computers such as the Raspberry Pi – so in other words, compact systems with a lot of potential. In addition, I have a soft spot for all kinds of wearables, especially smartwatches. My main profession is as a laboratory engineer, which is why neither scientific contexts nor the interpretation of complex measurements are foreign to me.
Growing up in regional Australia, I first became acquainted with computers in my early teens after a broken leg from a football (soccer) match temporarily condemned me to a predominately indoor lifestyle. Soon afterwards I was building my own systems. Now I live in Germany, having moved here in 2014, where I study philosophy and anthropology. I am particularly fascinated by how computer technology has fundamentally and dramatically reshaped human culture, and how it continues to do so.
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