Court quadruples ASML’s damages in XTAL case

Santa Clara County Superior Court entered its final judgment on 3 May in the ASML vs. XTAL case, awarding the former 845 million dollars. ASML will not see any of this money, as XTAL is in bankruptcy, but the equipment vendor from Veldhoven will end up with most, if not all, of XTAL’s intellectual property (IP).

A jury had already reached a guilty verdict for the case last November, and in a preliminary ruling, the court awarded over 200 million dollars in damages. Determination of the final damages had to wait until recently, as certain aspects of XTAL’s bankruptcy proceedings had to be settled first. This mainly concerned the company’s attempt to sell its IP, which ASML successfully managed to block. In a settlement approved by the bankruptcy court, XTAL’s IP will now be transferred to Veldhoven.

The primary driver behind the jury’s verdict and the 845 million dollar final judgment were saved research and development costs by XTAL, due to the company’s theft of trade secrets, inducing former employees to breach their contracts with ASML, aiding and abetting former employees to breach their fiduciary duty of loyalty to ASML, and multiple violations of California’s Computer Data Access and Fraud Act.