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The Federal Circuit has upheld a Delaware federal court ruling that cleared Intel of patent infringement claims brought by XMTT Inc., a company founded by University of Maryland professor Uzi Vishkin. XMTT alleged that Intel's central processing units (CPUs) infringed patents related to "parallel computing" ideas developed by Vishkin in 2006.

The Federal Circuit issued a brief Rule 36 order on Wednesday, affirming the lower court's decision. In February 2023, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly sided with Intel, ruling that the term "serial processor" in the patents did not cover Intel's chips. XMTT had argued that Judge Kennelly's interpretation of the patent term lacked support in the language, specification, or prosecution history of the patents.

On appeal, the Federal Circuit affirmed the lower court's decision without providing further explanation. Intel's attorney, Paul Bondor of Desmarais LLP, expressed satisfaction with the ruling, stating that the district court had correctly rejected XMTT’s infringement claims, which spanned years of Intel’s processor technology dating back to 2012.

XMTT’s legal team, including Morgan Chu of Irell & Manella LLP, did not respond to requests for comment. The patents involved are U.S. Patent Nos. 7,707,388 and 8,145,879.

The appeal was heard by U.S. Circuit Judges Kimberly A. Moore and Richard Taranto, and U.S. District Judge Robert W. Schroeder III, who was designated to the panel.

The case is XMTT Inc. v. Intel Corp., case number 23-1712, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.