A massive patent infringement case first filed more six years ago pitting Cornell University against computer giant Hewlett Packard is finally nearing a conclusion as the long-awaited trial began last week in Syracuse, NY, a short drive from the Ithaca-based Ivy League school’s campus. At stake is $900 million Cornell officials say HP owes to the school for allegedly stealing a professor’s invention more than a decade ago. The “115 Patent” in question, issued in 1989 to Cornell researcher Hwa C. Torng, dramatically improved computer processing speed by creating a method for multitasking. Cornell claims HP began selling supercomputers with the same innovation in 1995, and has since racked up more than $36 billion in sales of hardware containing the pilfered invention. HP counters that it did not use the invention, but developed its own multitasking computers without the Cornell IP. With a fortune at stake, both sides in the dispute are sparing no legal expense, on top of their years of preparation and more than 1,000 court documents already filed. Cornell University is armed with five Los Angeles lawyers led by the nation’s seventh-largest law firm and has rented a makeshift office in downtown Syracuse. Its accusations fill 61 binders on three 4-foot bookcases in a nearby federal courtroom. HP — armed with nine million pages of its own — has its own legal dream team featuring five San Diego lawyers led by the nation’s largest law firm, and its command center takes up the entire second-floor of the Renaissance Hotel. The trial is expected to last three weeks. Go to: Syracuse Online

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