Apple fends off 4G wireless patent lawsuit at third trial
Feb 12 (Reuters) – Apple won a defense verdict on Thursday in a lawsuit filed by intellectual property management company Optis Wireless, which accused the tech giant of infringing its patent rights in 4G LTE wireless technology.
Optis had won judgments of $506 million and $300 million against Apple in previous hearings in the long-running case in Marshall, Texas. Both decisions were later overturned on appeal.
An Optis spokesman said on Friday that the company would appeal Thursday’s decision.
“Apple’s stated strategy is to devalue and delay payment for the patented technology underlying the innovation it relies on to deliver high-speed LTE communications,” the spokesperson said. “While we respect the jury’s decision, we are incredibly disappointed in this outcome.”
“We thank the jury for their time and are pleased they rejected Optis’s false claims,” an Apple spokesperson said. “Optis makes no products and its only business is to sue companies, as it has repeatedly done with Apple, in order to receive excessive payments.”
An Optis spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the decision.
Plano, Texas-based Optis and its affiliates filed a lawsuit against Apple in 2019, claiming that the technology giant’s iPhones and other products violated patent rights in technology related to the 4G LTE wireless standard. Apple denied the allegations and argued that the patents were invalid.
A jury ruled in 2020 that Apple owes $506 million for infringing Optis’ patents. U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap ordered a new trial on damages in 2021 after finding that the award may not be consistent with Optis’ responsibility to license the patents on fair and reasonable terms.
A new jury awarded Optis $300 million in damages after a retrial later that year. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned that decision last year, finding that Gilstrap improperly worded his jury verdict form by conflating all of the patents at issue into a single infringement question.
A UK court separately ruled last year that Apple owed Optis $502 million for infringing Optis’ UK wireless patents. The UK Supreme Court is scheduled to hear Apple’s appeal in June.
(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
