Intel Gags VLSI Expert in Multibillion-Dollar Chip Patent Trial

Intel Corp. succeeded in blocking swathes of testimony from VLSI Technology LLC’s technical expert in a Delaware federal court Monday, including opinions that underpinned VLSI’s multibillion-dollar patent infringement damages calculation and information on purported “litigation misconduct, corporate culture, and ethics.”

Judge Colm F. Connolly barred Dr. Thomas M. Conte from providing his opinions on the benefits Intel derived from its alleged infringement of VLSI’s computer chip patents, finding he’d improperly double-counted Intel’s gain from infringing the patents’ independent and depdendent claims. VLSI’s damages expert relied on Conte’s approach to calculate that Intel should owe $1.6 billion for infringing the patents’ ...