A U.S. jury in Wilmington, Delaware said on Thursday that Apple's iPhone infringes on three patents owned by holding company MobileMedia Ideas LLC.
The Thursday verdict arrives after a week-long trial and a three hour jury debate behind closed doors. MobileMedia said in its original complaint that it would suffer "irreparable injury" if Apple continued to use its patented inventions in the iPhone without paying royalties.
In turn, Apple asked U.S. District Judge Sue L. Robinson to rule MobileMedia's three patents to be invalid as a matter of law, and that there was no "legally sufficient" basis to find that MobileMedia has proven patent infringement.
But the jury found Apple to be liable for misappropriating protected technology, and also concluded that the three patents in question owned by MobileMedia Ideas are not invalid. So far Judge Robinson has not scheduled a second trial for damages.
Based out of Chevy Chase, Maryland, MobileMedia sued Apple in 2010, claiming that the Cupertino, California-based iPhone company infringed fourteen patents. Judge Robinson took the case to trial once the number of offending patent claims were reduced to a mere three.
According to court filings, these patents were originally acquired from Nokia and Sony back in 2010, and cover the camera phone, call handling and call rejection. A court disclosure statement also revealed that 10-percent or more of MobileMedia's stock is owned by Nokia, Sony of America and MPEG LA, a patent-licensing authority.
MobileMedia, which has a portfolio of over 300 patents, also has litigation pending against HTC Corp and Research in Motion Ltd., Reuters said.
"Our goal is really to license these patents broadly to the market," said Larry Horn, chief executive of MobileMedia. "We’re not in the litigation business."
