Apple's iPhone Infringes Three Patents, Jury Said
It's Apple's turn to be sued for patent infringement.
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.
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"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."
Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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WithoutWeakness Another company that holds onto patents for stuff they never made in order to make money off the companies that are actually making products.Reply
I'm glad to see someone's pushing Apple's lawsuit BS back in their face but I don't want it done like this. -
Abion47 Not that Apple didn't have it coming to them something fierce, but I'm just sick of all the drama in general. Seriously, if these tech giants put a fraction of the money they put into these legal ventures into their R&D, we would have hoverboards by now.Reply -
balister WithoutWeaknessAnother company that holds onto patents for stuff they never made in order to make money off the companies that are actually making products.I'm glad to see someone's pushing Apple's lawsuit BS back in their face but I don't want it done like this.Reply
I guess you missed this comment in the article:
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.
So, Sony and Nokia decided to work with another company and combine all their patents together for licensing purposes thus allow all three companies to be able to make money off the fruits of their labors. I see nothing wrong with this, this is not someone patent trolling, but bringing patents together to make licensing of said patents, that were rightfully worked on and created by the overall partner companies, easier for other companies using those technologies and go to a single source for licensing. -
sliem "Judge Robinson took the case to trial once the number of offending patent claims were reduced to a mere three."Reply
How did 14 infringing patents become three? What happened to the other 11? -
_Cubase_ Apple is reaping what they sew.... still sucks that it's happening all over the place.Reply
All these patent issues are doing is sending a message to our future inventors and innovators: If you've got the balls to make it, we've got the balls to sue you for it!