Apple to pay $300m after patent damages retrial
A Texas jury has awarded Optis Wireless Technology and several of its subsidiaries $300 million in damages, after the companies won a second patent infringement trial against Apple.
In August last year, the same jury for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas found that Apple wilfully infringed five of Optis’ 4G technology patents after failing to prove them invalid, ordering $506 million in patent royalties.
Judge Rodney Gilstrap upheld the jury’s findings in April, but vacated the award, ordering a new trial.
The jury issued a new verdict on Friday, ordering the iPhone maker to pay Optis and four of its units $300 million in fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) royalties.
Case History
Optis, Panoptis Patent Management and Unwired Planet had initially sued Apple in February 2019, claiming that the tech giant had infringed its portfolio of long term evolution (LTE) standard patents through the sales of iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches.
Several of Optis’ standard-essential patents (SEPs) were originally assigned to Panasonic, LG Electronics and Ericsson.
The initial trial took place over seven days, following failed bids from Apple to delay proceedings due to the impact of COVID-19 on legal proceedings.
Optis’ lawsuits against Apple span several jurisdictions. In June, the English High Court ruled that Apple had infringed one of Optis’s EU standard-essential patents, the second loss Apple suffered following the original jury verdict in Texas.
Justice Richard Meade was unconvinced by Apple’s arguments that the patent was invalid for obviousness, upholding the patent’s validity and denying Apple’s estoppel and acquiescence defence.
The patent holder also pursued infringement claims against Huawei in both English and US courts in 2018, but the two parties decided to settle the dispute out of court, filing motions to dismiss last year.
“This was an important trial to determine the jury's damages award following an initial finding of infringement for PanOptis against Apple,” said McKool Smith principal Steve Pollinger, trial counsel for PanOptis. “The jury worked hard to understand the technology and weigh the evidence in this case. Our client is very pleased with the verdict.”
WIPR has approached Apple for comment.
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