Apple wins court ruling throwing out US$308.5 million patent verdict
Apple persuaded a federal judge to throw out a US$308.5 million jury verdict it lost to a privately-held licensing firm for infringing a patent associated with digital rights management.
In a Thursday (Aug 5) night decision, US District Judge Rodney Gilstrap said Personalized Media Communications LLC (PMC) intentionally delayed filing its application with the US Patent and Trademark Office, hoping to obtain a larger payout.
Apple persuaded a federal judge to throw out a US$308.5 million jury verdict it lost to a privately-held licensing firm for infringing a patent associated with digital rights management.
In a Thursday (Aug 5) night decision, US District Judge Rodney Gilstrap said Personalized Media Communications LLC (PMC) intentionally delayed filing its application with the US Patent and Trademark Office, hoping to obtain a larger payout.
Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
PMC's patent application dated to applications filed in the 1980s.
Gilstrap said PMC employed a so-called "submarine" patent strategy, filing serial applications and then keeping its patent portfolio "hidden" until industry widely adopted the underlying technology.
He said PMC would demand licensing fees or allege infringement only after it believed infringement was widespread.
He cited an internal PMC document from 1991 identifying Apple, AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel and Microsoft as "natural candidates" for its strategy.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
