Tessera Loses Big Patent Case

Six chip makers beat back a big patent infringement lawsuit from San Jose’s Tessera today.

The International Trade Commission ruled that Qualcomm, Motorola, Spansion, STMicroelectronics, Freescale Semiconductor and AMD didn’t infringe on Tessera chip-packaging patents. It was a serious blow to Tessera, which depends on its patents to bring home the bacon, and its stock plunged precipitously on the news.

Legal Pad caught up with Mike Bettinger, a San Francisco K&L Gates lawyer who represented Spansion and AMD, late Monday.

“It’s a huge win from our standpoint. It was really a U.S. semiconductor company standing up to a troll,” Bettinger told us. “[Tessera] never lost in court — they’ve either settled or won.”

The case, which morphed from a district court affair in 2005 to an ITC showdown last year, kept teams of lawyers from every law firm you can think of busy. Qualcomm was represented by local McDermott Will & Emery lawyers. Freescale was represented by Jones Day. Motorola employed the services of Kirkland & Ellis. STMicro used Sidley Austin. On the other side, Irell & Manella and Gibson Dunn fought for Tessera, and the case marks a rare loss for Irell’s star patent litigator, Morgan Chu. There were also other law firms brought in to deal specifically with the ITC.

When he got word of the victory, Bettinger said, he was “overcome with emotion.”

—  Zusha Elinson