Following a re-hearing of the patent infringement case, Apple was ordered to pay the plaintiffs $ 300 million. The company was accused of infringement of intellectual rights to wireless technology in the iPhone. According to a new jury verdict in the city of Marshall, Texas, Apple must pay the specified amount to PanOptis Patent Management and its divisions Optis Cellular and Unwired Planet. The plaintiffs claim they own the patents related to the LTE mobile standard.
Last year, the amount in this case was $ 506.2 million. In the new hearing, only the issue of the amount that Apple must pay was considered. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap upheld the jury's verdict in April, but ordered a retrial. He stated that the award for patents describing fundamental decisions must meet the requirement of "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory" (FRAND) conditions, and the jury must be allowed to consider the case in accordance with this requirement.
Apple representatives thanked the jury, but expressed disappointment with this decision and announced their intention to appeal, since Optis does not manufacture products, and its only way to earn money is litigation with other companies based on the collected patents.
The Texas lawsuit is only part of Optis's overall strategy, with the company intending to recover $ 7 billion from the iPhone maker. A UK court may set a global royalty rate in the case, and Apple officials threatened in July that the company might decide to withdraw from the UK market altogether. if the amount is found to be “commercially unacceptable”. We are talking about solutions that are critical for ensuring LTE communication.
Optis claims that the technology described in the patents is used in smartphones, tablets and smartwatches from Apple. Although Optis itself doesn't really produce anything. The five patents pending in the Texas case were originally granted to Panasonic, Samsung and LG. Panasonic and LG transferred their Optis Cellular patents in 2014, and Samsung transferred the patent to Unwired Planet in 2017.
Patents relate to technologies without which the implementation of communication standards is impossible. The technology industry has been arguing about such solutions for decades, and the situation is escalating as wireless connectivity begins to be used in an increasing range of products - today this applies to both household appliances and cars.
Companies are working together to implement new solutions, striving to include them in the generally accepted standard. When this happens, the authors undertake to license them under the FRAND principle. However, this principle is not enshrined in legal regulations, which leads to patent litigation around the world. Optis officials said Apple had rejected all "fair" bids, a key issue in the London hearing.
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