A regional court in Düsseldorf, Germany, ruled Wednesday that Intel infringed a patent of R2 Semiconductor, a U.S.-based company, and subsequently issued an injunction against sales of some of Intel's processors in Germany, according to a report by Financial Times . The ruling prohibits the sales of select Intel processors and devices based on Intel processors in the country. Intel believes its products do not infringe on R2 Semiconductor's patents and has asked a German patent court to invalidate the patent.

The European patent in question covers voltage regulating technology. R2 Semiconductor asserts that Intel's Core-series Ice Lake, Tiger Lake, Alder Lake, and Xeon Scalable 'Ice Lake Server' processors, as well as its consumer laptops and servers that contain those processors infringe on its patents. R2 Semiconductor asked the court to stop sales of products powered by these CPUs as well as recall the products featuring these processors, Intel disclosed last September . The company argued that an 'injunction would be a disproportionate remedy.'

For now, the regional court in Düsseldorf has issued an injunction against sales of Intel's previous-generation CPUs — a decision that Intel plans to appeal. Many Ice Lake and Tiger Lake processors have been discontinued by now, so the sales ban will not harm Intel or its partners significantly. But there are still PCs that use Intel's 12th Generation Core 'Alder Lake' and boxed/tray versions of these CPUs are still available.

The good news is that Intel's current-generation Core 'Raptor Lake' and 'Raptor Lake Refresh' processors as well as Core Ultra 'Meteor Lake' CPUs do not infringe any of R2 Semiconductor's patents, so Intel and its partners can continue to sell these processors, and devices based on them, in Germany with no restrictions.

Intel argues that R2 Semiconductor's patent has been invalidated in U.S., which is why it sued the chip giant in Europe, and has even gone so far as to accuse R2 Semiconductor of being a patent troll.

"Intel believes companies like R2, which appears to be a shell company whose only business is litigation, should not be allowed to obtain injunctions on CPUs and other critical components at the expense of consumers, workers, national security and the economy," Intel told Financial Times .

Regarding the lawsuit in Germany: Intel is protecting its customers by covering any legal costs or damages they might face. As of last September, Intel could not make a realistic guess of the possible 'loss or range of losses that might arise from these lawsuits.'

Intel is also battling R2 Semiconductor in the U.K. and is trying to settle its long-running legal dispute with VLSI .