Posted on 02/03/2016 8:38:45 PM PST by Swordmaker
A jury in the Eastern District of Texas found for patent licensing company Virnet X
A jury in Texas has decided Apple must pay $626 million for infringing four patents held by a Nevada-based patent licensing company.
The patents cover technology used in Apple's VPN on Demand software back to 2009, its FaceTime messaging system back to 2010, and its iMessage software.
The trial follows one in 2012 in which Apple was found to infringe on Virnet X patents but managed to overturn the verdict on appeal.
On Wednesday, a jury in the Eastern District of Texas found for VirnetX and against Apple on all counts, going on to find the infringement was willful -- a legal finding that can greatly increase damages.
The Eastern District court is a popular place for patent infringement lawsuits and has earned a reputation as somewhere that favors patent holders in such disputes.
Apple has already asked the judge to declare a mistrial after lawyers for VirnetX made what Apple called "arguments outside the evidence, blatantly misrepresenting the testimony of Apple witnesses."
Those statements "served to confuse, mislead, and inflame the jury, to render a verdict not based on the record."
Both VirnetX and Apple did not respond to requests for comment.
The four patents at the heart of the case were U.S. Patents 6,502,135; 7,490,151; 7,418,504 and 7,921,211.
I wonder what they would have sold the patents for?
Software patents are EVIL!
Patent trolls.
Apple getting Samsunged !
Marshall Texas.
There are office buildings in Marshall that have little tiny micro offices that are rented and have names on the doors, but are never actually used. Lawyers rent them so they can claim to have an office in Marshall, which in turn gets them the ability to file cases there. Patent law is a big money maker for Marshall.
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I skimmed through the patents. I doubt the jury could even get through an inkling of what these patents were about, much less, get a grasp of whether Apple infringed them or not. Apple has claimed from the outset they do not even use anything like what these patents do for their approach to the things claimed in VPN on Demand, FaceTime, or iMessaging software. There are so many different ways to accomplish the same things that there is no need to infringe someone else algorithms.
The SAME PATENTS were used against the Apple devices in an earlier suit which Apple lost, but the APPEALS COURT reversed the judgement amount and sent it back for apportionment based on what portion of the devices in question actually were drive sales. Utility patents are not allowed to claim the entire value of the device as an award. The judgement there, for the same patents was only $320 million and was deemed far too much by the appeals court for what they considered the damages and reversed the judgement. Now a jury has doubled down on damages on the same patents? Seems to me the Appeals court will look very poorly on that thumbing of the judicial noses at this already settled issue if the judge allows this dollar amount to stand. Not only that, the Jury added that Apple infringed these patents "willfully" which can triple the $626 million. These are VERY obscure patents that would have been very licensable had Apple known about them at all. Absurd!
Add also that TWO OF THEM were developed under US Government contracts, and are still partly owned by the CIA! What gives this VirnetX a right to sue as if they wholly owned them? They do not even use them except to sue people.
Could be dead patents under Alice. I think that Apple might have an IPR pending as well.
Well, a utility patent can and frequently does generate
damages based on the sale price of the entire infringing device. But it is not automatic, especially in the high tech space where a look is taken as to whether the patented feature found to be infringed drives the sales of the entire product. Here, I see that as being difficult to establish.
`They told me you had been to her,
And mentioned me to him:
She gave me a good character,
But said I could not swim.
He sent them word I had not gone
(We know it to be true):
If she should push the matter on,
What would become of you?
I gave her one, they gave him two,
You gave us three or more;
They all returned from him to you,
Though they were mine before.
If I or she should chance to be
Involved in this affair,
He trusts to you to set them free,
Exactly as we were.
My notion was that you had been
(Before she had this fit)
An obstacle that came between
Him, and ourselves, and it.
Don’t let him know she liked them best,
For this must ever be
A secret, kept from all the rest,
Between yourself and me.’
Damn patent trolls. They are the reason it takes so long to get an actual legit patent,
Any lawyer admitted in a state can file cases in any court in that state. They don’t need to have an office anywhere close in order to do so. Perhaps it’s just a matter of convenience.
That’s more than just some tip money, even for Apple.
That is about 3-5 days of interest payments if Apple has only UST or Fed Agencies Securities.
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