A U.S. jury ordered Apple to pay the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s patent licensing arm more than $234 million in damages for incorporating its microchip technology into some of the company’s iPhones and iPads without permission.
HIGHLIGHTS
- The amount was less than the $400 million the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) was claiming in damages after the jury said Apple infringed its patent for improving the performance of computer processors.
- Apple said it would appeal the verdict, but declined to comment further. A representative for WARF could not immediately be reached.
- Jurors deliberated for about 3-1/2 hours before returning the verdict in the closely watched case in federal court in Madison, Wisconsin. It was the second phase of a trial that began on Oct. 5.
- The jury was considering whether Apple’s A7, A8 and A8X processors, found in the iPhone 5s, 6 and 6 Plus, as well as several versions of the iPad, violated the patent.
- WARF sued Apple in January 2014 alleging infringement of its 1998 patent on a so-called “predictor circuit,” developed by computer science professor Gurindar Sohi and three of his students.
- Much of the dispute over damages had to do with whether a certain portion of Apple’s chips that were placed in devices sold abroad, rather than in the United States, also violated the WARF patent. The jurors found that they did.
- Apple had sought to greatly limit its liability, arguing before jurors that WARF deserved less than even the $110 million the foundation settled with Intel Corp after suing that company in 2008 over the same patent.
- Apple had argued that WARF’s patent entitled it to as little as 7 cents per device sold, a far cry from the $2.74 that WARF was claiming.
Which University has sued Apple on the case of patent infringement?
