The court ruled that Sony must pay Agere Systems the sum of $18.5 million for patent infrigement. An infringement that was "wilful", as the court stated.
The case against Sony was filed back in 2006, when Agere Systems discovered that Sony’s were was infringing on eight of its patents, such as the one for "wireless local area network apparatus" or the "barrier layer treatments for tungsten plug."
Apparently, Sony had been using these patents in several of its products, including the PlayStation Portable console.
The case went on, as no out of court settlement could be reached. Now the verdicts is out and Sony might be thinking that the out of court option might’ve been a good one.