A federal jury on Wednesday found that Marvell Technology Group and Marvell Semiconductor Inc. infringed on patent rights held by Carnegie Mellon University because of work done there by a professor and a then-student. And in a record-setting verdict, the jury awarded Carnegie Mellon $1.17 billion, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

While an appeal is almost certain, there is also a chance Carnegie Mellon could see an even larger award. The jury found that Marvell violated the patent rights knowingly and without a good defense for its conduct. That means, the Post-Gazette reported, that the judge in the case could triple the damages.

According to the newspaper, the technology in question "increased the accuracy with which hard-disk drive circuits read data from high-speed magnetic disks."

Lawyers for Marvell did not comment on the verdict. Bloomberg reported that the company's stock shares lost 10 percent of their value after the verdict.