US chipmaker Marvell Technology faces having to pay one of the biggest ever patent damage awards. A jury in Pittsburgh found the firm guilty of infringing two hard disk innovations owned by local university Carnegie Mellon. It said Marvell should pay US$1.17 billion in compensation—however, that sum could be multiplied up to three times by the judge because the jury had also said the act had been “wilful.”  Marvell’s shares fell more than ten per cent. The maximum penalty would be close to the $3.96bn value of the company, based on its market capi...