Hewlett-Packard Files Appeal In Patent Infringement Lawsuit With Cornell

Hewlett-Packard has filed an appeal to a District Court decision announced last month that the company would have to pay Cornell $53.5 million for patent infringement, according to the Wall Street Journal. In order to fight the case, Cupertino, Calif. based H.P. said that it expects to earn one to two cents less per share in its second fiscal quarter of the year, according to the Sacramento Business Journal. This comes after U.S. District Judge Randall Radar reduced the amount H.P. owed Cornell from $184 million, as decided by a Jury last June.
The original suit stems from a dispute over rights to the patent for a data processor unit developed by Cornell researchers. The processor, which was the first of its kind to be able to perform multiple tasks at once, was developed by Prof. Hwa Torng, engineering, in 1989, according to a previous article in The Sun. The suit was first filed in 2001, and took seven years of preparation before the University sued for $900 million.
Though the most recent outcome has granted the University only a fraction of what it first asked, H.P. has vowed to continue the fight, hoping to bring the number down further. Vice President for University Communication Tommy Bruce said last summer, after Cornell was awarded $184 million, that he expected the case to continue.
“They have the right to appeal,” Bruce said in June. “ We expect this to go through the full appropriate legal system.”