Jury awards $40m in Shopify clash
E-commerce platform owes damages for infringing three patents; Express Mobile continues litigation strategy that has targeted Meta, Amazon, Google and Dropbox.
A Delaware jury has concluded that e-commerce platform Shopify owes Express Mobile $40 million for infringing three mobile-website tech patents.
In a verdict made public yesterday, September 1, and handed down the prior day, the US District Court for the District of Delaware jury found that Shopify had infringed every asserted claim of the three patents and that none of the claims were invalid.
Rather than a royalty for Express Mobile, the jury concluded that Shopify should pay a lump sum of $40 million for infringement.
Back in 2019, Shopify asked the Delaware court to find that it hadn’t infringed the patents. The e-commerce platform had allegedly been sent a letter from Express Mobile's attorney claiming that Shopify has “infringed and is infringing one or more of the Express Mobile patents through its business of building web sites and web pages for customers”.
"Express Mobile’s December 20, 2018 letter and its history of litigation against numerous parties over the past three years, including Shopify competitors and complaints specifically referencing Shopify products, constitutes affirmative enforcement conduct by Express Mobile establishing a substantial controversy of sufficient immediacy and reality regarding whether Shopify infringes any claim of the patents-in-suit,” said Shopify at the time.
Express Mobile, in response, counterclaimed and alleged that Shopify's website building tools infringed its patents.
In a statement emailed to WIPR, Shopify said: "While we are disappointed and surprised by the jury’s verdict, we are confident that Shopify does not infringe the asserted patents.
"Shopify intends to pursue the matter in the district court or, if necessary, on appeal. Shopify remains dedicated to making commerce better for everyone, and it will continue to defend itself against patent infringement claims that seek to unfairly capitalise on Shopify's platform and the success of our merchants."
California-based Express Mobile has sued numerous tech companies for allegedly infringing its patents, including Meta, Amazon, Google and Dropbox.
Express Mobile owns patents related to internet and mobile technology. These patents have been developed by company founder and former IBM engineer Steven Rempell.
This article was updated after publication on Friday September 2 to include a statement from Shopify.
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