A lawsuit filed by Harvard University against microchip giant Micron Technology is the latest patent suit brought by a big university that could result in a major cash windfall, though educational institutions ?filing infringement suits over federally funded research has drawn criticism.
“It seems to me maybe they looked at the math on this and thought there’s a lot of money to be made here,” said David Olson, a patent law professor at Boston College. “For a lot of universities it’s not a source of income, but if you’re Stanford or MIT or Harvard, there’s a lot of potential there.”
Harvard recently sued ?Micron Technology and GlobalFoundries — two microchip manufacturers — claiming the companies infringed on patents awarded to Harvard between 2001 and 2009 based on research conducted at the university. Micron has a market cap of more than $13.5 billion, while GlobalFoundries is ?privately owned.
“The patented technology is essential to key components of electronic products such as computers and cellphones,” Harvard said in a statement. “Their efforts revolutionized the manufacture of semiconductor components, made better computers available around the world, and contributed to the growth of the information economy.”
The patents cover methods for adding thin films to materials, including to insulate microchips. Harvard alleges the companies use their technology to produce memory chips.
Ron Maltiel, of the California-based Maltiel Consulting, who focuses on semiconductor and other patent litigation, said Harvard’s suit “has potential” and “could be a major case.”
Still, it’s unclear if any other companies have licensed the Harvard patents, and a spokeswoman for the school refused to say if that was the case — a response that Olson said should raise eyebrows.
“If everybody in the industry has licensed this except for these two bad actors, you would think they would say that,” Olson said.
Micron and Global-?Foundries did not respond to multiple requests for comment, and Harvard refused to answer specific questions about the case.
The Harvard cases mirror a litigative blitz from Boston University several years ago, when the school sued nearly every major technology company for infringing on a patent for blue LEDs.
Tech giants including Apple, Amazon and Samsung ended up settling the case and licensing the technology.
Those cases and others have been criticized for trying to profit off of federally funded research.
“The argument that has been made traditionally for a patent is nobody would be willing to commercialize,” said Arti Rai, a professor at Duke University. “I don’t think that conventional argument works here.”
