Apple faces iPhone infringement blow
Apple’s iPhone infringes three mobile phone patents owned by non-practising entity (NPE) MobileMedia, a US jury has ruled.
Following a week-long trial, the jury at the US District Court for the District of Delaware made its decision on December 13. The infringed patents cover methods for muting incoming calls or changing their volume; rejecting a phone call; and capturing and transferring images.
The jury rejected Apple’s claims that the patents, which MobileMedia acquired from Sony and Nokia, were invalid. A separate trial will decide the damages, but this has not been scheduled yet.
MobileMedia sued Apple in June 2010, alleging the company infringed 18 of its patents. It has cases pending against smartphone-makers RIM and HTC in two separate Texas district courts.
The US-based company, which holds 300 patents, is jointly owned by Sony, Nokia and a company called MPEG LA. It calls itself a “patent portfolio licensor” (an NPE), which is one that enforces its patents through licences or litigation.
In a statement, the company welcomed the jury’s decision: “MobileMedia is pleased that the jury confirmed Apple's iPhones use our patented technology,” said chief executive Larry Horn.
Proskauer Rose LLP represented MobileMedia in court. Steve Bauer, a partner at the firm who acted in the trial, said:
“This was a very difficult case. It required us to take the jury back to 1994-1998, when these technologies were first invented. We are pleased the jury was not misdirected by dead-end arguments intended to obfuscate the scope of the invention here.”
Apple did not respond to a request for comment. It is unclear whether the company plans to appeal against the decision.
Rodney Sweetland, partner at Duane Morris in Washington, DC, said the ruling was only a minor development in the wider context of Apple’s current smartphone patent litigation:
“This didn’t involve a major player like Samsung and because this was a bifurcated trial (with damages coming in the second half), there isn’t any award yet. Most importantly, there won’t even be a consideration of an injunction until after that.”
He added: “Mobile Media is not a typical patent troll; rather, it is a proxy for third-tier competitor Nokia and non-competitor Sony. As an NPE it is extremely unlikely that it will obtain an injunction, so at worst Apple will have to pay damages. Companies like Apple have paid settlements to NPEs for years and is easily able to factor that into its business. The market appears to be overreacting.”
The verdict can be seen here.
