Apple Inc has successfully reversed a patent infringement damages award against it, as known on September 28. Apple persuaded a federal appeals court to oust a $234 million damages award in favor of the University of Wisconsin’s patent licensing wing for infringement of the school’s patent on computer processing technology.
In 2015, Apple faced charges of infringement on University of Wisconsin-Madison patents with some iPhone processors and was ordered to pay the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation or WARF (which handles the university’s patent licensing) $234 million. Moreover, about $213 million of the verdict had been based on a discovery that Apple was vicariously liable for Apple-branded products manufactured by Samsung Electronics Co.
WARF, who had sued Apple in 2014, contended that processors in Apple’s iPhone 5s, 6, and 6 Plus had infringed a patent outlining means to improve processor performance through the prediction of instructions determined by uses of the devices. In 2017, on the orders of U.S. District Judge William Conley, the figure was raised to $506 million after it was determined that the company had continued to infringe the patent until its expiry dated 2016-end.
According to Reuters’ reports, the US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, ruled that there was no reasonable determination of Apple’s infringement of the patent by “no reasonable juror” as per the given evidence in the liability phase of the 2015 trial. It is possible that the additional $272 million awards might be reversed as well.
The US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals also added that Apple deserved judgment as a matter of law in the case brought by the WARF.
Lawyers for Apple and WARF declined immediately respond to requests for comment.
