Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRVL) (FRA:MVL) has issued a statement regarding the findings of a recent lawsuit. On Wednesday, a Pennsylvania jury delivered its verdict in a suit against Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRVL) (FRA:MVL). Carnegie Mellon University filed the suit against the company and also Marvell Semiconductor, a subsidiary of Marvell Technology.
The university claimed that Marvell infringed on two of its patents, relating to a technique used to read channel detector technology, which Marvell said is not used in any of its chips. The statement from Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRVL) (FRA:MVL) said they “strongly believe the theoretical methods described in these patents cannot practically be built in silicon even using the most advanced techniques available today, let alone with the technology available a decade ago.”
Marvell said it uses its own patented read channel technology, which they developed. However the jury decided that Marvell did infringe on the university’s patent and awarded $1.17 billion in damages. Marvell said it will appeal the jury’s findings and seek to get them overturned, even taking it to the U.S. Court of Appeals if necessary.
The company also said it will assess the impact of the jury’s findings on its financial statements and “evaluate the likelihood of a successful appeal.” Then it will determine if the lawsuit will affect its finances and adjust its projections for the company’s fourth fiscal quarter, which ends Feb. 2, 2013.
In the meantime, Marvell Technology’s shareholders are taking a hit on the company’s stock. Today analysts at JMP Securities downgraded the stock as a result of the adverse jury decision. They have set the stock at Market Perform instead of Market Outperform. They set their price target at $7.40 per share.
On Wednesday, we noted that David Einhorn is one of those feeling the pinch in the drop of Marvell Technology’s stock, which is one of his top holdings. Shares of Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRVL) (FRA:MVL) are down another 4 percent in today’s morning trades.
