The Latest in IT Security

The smartphone industry is caught in a maelstrom of patent litigation, with Apple, Samsung, Nokia, Motorola and other major companies entangled in a complex matrix of lawsuits. But other parts of the tech world also have their woes. A federal court has just ordered Marvell to pay $1.5 billion to Carnegie Mellon University over two hard-disk patents. The judge in case slammed Marvell with “enhanced penalties” for deliberately infringing on Carnegie’s intellectual property. This is a bit of a jackpot for Carnegie Mellon, which has an endowment of just $1.37 billion. The university has an illustrious information technology RD history — it was one of the first six institutions to gain a .edu URL. Marvell’s entire market cap is currently under $8.2