3Com Wins IP Suit Against Realtek

April 15, 2008

On April 9, 2008, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California 3COM $45.3 million for past patent infringement by Realtek Semiconductor.

3Com’s successful lawsuit against Realtek involved several claims in four patents. The four patents relate to 3Com’s pioneering network interface technology, particularly its parallel processing technology, which improves the transfer of data between a host (such as a personal computer) and a network. The jury found all asserted claims of the four 3Com patents valid and infringed. The jury also found that Realtek induced others to infringe the 3Com patents in the United States, and that Realtek willfully infringed three of 3Com’s patents.

3Com is now pursuing a final judgment from the Court consistent with the jury verdict. 3Com will request the Court in its final judgment to consider and include enhanced damages due to the finding of willfulness, pre-judgment interest, and all other appropriate relief.

“We are extremely pleased that the jury has found in favor of 3Com in this important case and recognized the damage caused to 3Com by Realtek’s willful actions,” said Neal Goldman, 3Com executive vice president, chief administrative and legal officer. “3Com has a very broad portfolio of networking technology patents and an active licensing program. We will continue to aggressively protect our valuable patents against any and all infringements.”

Realtek’s controller chip products that the jury found to infringe on 3Com patents are as follows: