Apple loses patent battle against Nokia and Sony

Apple has lost a six-year patent infringement battle against MobileMedia, a patent-owning company formed by Nokia and Sony.

Apple has been ordered to pay $3 million to MobileMedia after infringing a patent for ring-silencing technology on phones. MobileMedia had previously requested nearly $18 million in damages.

The ruling, which was decided on September 21 at the US District Court for the District of Delaware, found that Apple’s iPhone 3G, 3GS and 4 had infringed US patent number 39,231.

Filed in 2001 by Sony, the patent is now part of the portfolio licensed by MobileMedia.

MobileMedia filed a lawsuit against Apple in March 2010, alleging infringement of 16 patents, including the ‘231 patent. Apple counterclaimed in August that year.

In 2012, the court found that Apple had infringed four patents of the 16 allegedly violated but that the ‘231 patent was not infringed.

But in 2015, after an appeal by Apple, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit sent back the ‘231 patent to be reviewed by the district court, which has now found that it was infringed.

In a statement, MobileMedia said that there may be further proceedings as the case did not include the iPhone 4S, 5/5C/5S and 6/6 Plus.

Larry Horn, MobileMedia president and CEO, said: “We thank the jury for its service and hard work. This case could have been avoided by the taking of a licence, however.

“We still welcome Apple to respect intellectual property developed by others with the taking of a licence.”