Apple was told to pay $21.7 million in a patent case against OPTi Inc., a semiconductor vendor-turned-patent troll. The patent (no. 6,405,291) regards "pre-snoop" cache memory technology. The decision was made in the plaintiff-friendly U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Because Apple did not willfully infringe on the patent, it does not have to reimburse any attorney fees. Obviously $21.7 million is couch change to Apple, and they have every incentive to keep fighting a patent troll. So it's possible it will appeal. Here's the release: PALO ALTO, Calif., Dec 04, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- OPTi Inc...