Intel Case Against Broadcom Begins

Intel Corp. deserves $82 million in damages from rival Broadcom Corp. for allegedly infringing two patents for video processing and computer networking, an Intel attorney told a jury.

In the first day of a federal court trial in Delaware, a Broadcom defense lawyer charged that Intel filed the lawsuit because it’s losing market share to the smaller company’s microchips.

The trial could put Irvine-based Broadcom’s $1-billion-a-year busi-ness at risk because Intel, the No. 1 chip maker with $33 billion in annual sales, claims that nearly every aspect of its rival’s business is covered by the patents.

“Intel has dusted off two old patents to come after Broadcom in the marketplace” and the patents are invalid because “everything in them was invented before by someone else,” Broadcom lawyer Terrence McMahon told jurors.

“Broadcom took a devil-may-care attitude with Intel’s patents and is driven by the bottom line” in misappropriating the technology, said Intel lawyer John Gartman in his opening presentation.

Shares of Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel fell 55 cents to $31.76, while shares of Broadcom fell $2.97 to $46.95, both on Nasdaq.