A few years ago, it was Apple who spent the whole year denouncing any company that offered or added functionalities similar to those that we could find in some of their devices. As the years have passed, the tortilla has been turned around y Apple has become the target of many companies, some of them known as patent trolls.
The latest news related to a lawsuit that Apple has received shows us how Tim Cook's company has been sentenced to pay $ 506 million for infringing various patents on behalf of PanOptis by a federal jury from the Eastern District of Texas. This was the first in-person patent lawsuit he has held since the COVID-19 pandemic.
This lawsuit focused on several Optis Wireless patents, all of them related to the use of LTE technology on the Apple Watch, iPhone and iPad. During the trial, Apple tried unsuccessfully to prove that it had not infringed Apple's patent technology to connect to LTE networks.
Optis Wireless claimed that it had offered a global use license to use its LTE-related patents to meet its fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory obligations. However, despite having dealt with Apple repeatedly, the negotiations were unsuccessful and they were forced to take the case to trial.
Apple argued that they could see inside the iPhone to see how the patents of this company had not been infringed at any time, in addition to stating that the compatibility of the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch with LTE networks, like other smartphones, tablets and smartwatches on the market, was not sufficient proof of infringement.
This argument was not enough and the jury found that Apple had not proven that Optis Wireless' patent claims were invalid, sentencing Apple to pay $ 506.200.000.
