Apple Ordered to Pay $21.7 Million in Patent Suit
Apple has been ordered to pay Opti Inc. a total of $21.7 million in damages following a patent infringement suit.
If this rings any bells it's because Opti actually sued Apple successfully earlier this year. Ars Technica reports that, in a lawsuit filed in 2007, OPTi alleged Apple had infringed upon its patent covering "predictive snooping of cache memory for master-initiated accesses."
The technology, in general, uses predictive snooping of cache memory to speed up PCI bus data transfers, with the intent of maintaining a constant transfer rate. This year, a jury determined willful infringement and Apple was ordered to pay $19 million in "reasonable royalties."
Apple opposed the verdict, stating that it had not willfully infringed upon the patent and claiming the use of the technology is "obvious" and covered by prior art. This week, U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles Everingham granted Apple's motion for judgment as a matter of law that it did not willfully infringe Opti's patent for predictive cache snooping. However, according to Ars, Everingham issued a guilty verdict anyway, ordering the Cupertino-based Mac maker to pay a total of $21.7 million in damages.
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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sunflier 19Million??Reply
Overpriced @ $2500.00 Apple just needs to sell 7600 Mac Pro Workstations. -
gekko668 21.7 millions of dollars mean nothing to Apple consider they made billions of dollars in profit each quarter.Reply -
Blessedman this whole idea of patenting ideas that may show up in the future without a working model is total BS. The patent office needs to insist that if these companies are going to file for a patent that the company is obligated to first show a working model.Reply -
ssalim Lol, yeap.Reply
"$21mil? ah dang, well it'll return in 2 days selling 7600 mac pro. No worries guys." -
pooflinger1 Nelson from the Simpsons comes to mind....Reply
*points finger at apple and says Ha Ha* -
bunz_of_steel GOOOOOD Screw that Steve Job's billionare exec's outa their "hard earned" money! ROFLMA I luv it!!!Reply -
maddad I don't understand why there are so many Apple haters here. I don't own and Apple computer or an iphone, but Apple innovates and everyone else then jumps on board to try and catch up. Where were all the cool phones from Motorola, Samsung, LG, and HTC before the iphone showed up? Where were all the thin laptops before the Mac Air? Anyway reguardless, they need to get a handle on the patent trolls before all the companies who do create, build, and innovate decide they can't produce anything new without getting sued.Reply -
njalterio maddadWhere were all the cool phones from Motorola, Samsung, LG, and HTC before the iphone showed up?Reply
Blackberry
maddadWhere were all the thin laptops before the Mac Air?
Mitsubishi Pedion in 1998
Besides, the macbook air has had major overheating problems.
maddadAnyway reguardless, they need to get a handle on the patent trolls before all the companies who do create, build, and innovate decide they can't produce anything new without getting sued.
I agree with you on that one.