Apple Inc. has been ordered to pay $300 million in royalties after a retrial in a LTE patent infringement dispute over wireless technology used in its iPhones and other products.
According to Bloomberg, a federal jury in Texas ordered the iPhone maker to pay PanOptis Patent Management and its Optis Cellular and Unwired Planet, for using their patented wireless technology in iPhones and iPad.
In August 2020, a jury had slapped a $500 million fine on Apple. However, the amount has been reduced in the retrial.
The Texas trial is part of an effort by Optis to collect as much as $7 billion from the iPhone maker.
The Texas case involves technology the company claims is critical to implementation of the 4G communications standard. Optis says Apple’s smartphones, watches, and tablets that operate over 4G networks were using its patented technology.
The trial focused only on how much Apple should pay.
U.S. District Court Judge, Rodney Gilstrap, had in April upheld the jury’s liability finding but ordered a new trial on damages, saying the jury should have been allowed to consider whether the royalty demand was consistent with a requirement that standard-essential patents be licensed on “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory.”
Optis doesn’t make any products. The five patents in the Texas case were originally issued to Panasonic Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Co.
Panasonic and LG transferred ownership of two patents each to Optis Cellular in 2014, while Samsung transferred its patent to Unwired Planet in 2017.
Optis claims that Apple had refused all fair offers and has accused the company of being an “unwilling licensee.”
Reacting, Apple in a statement, said: “We thank the jury for their time but are disappointed by the verdict and plan to appeal. Optis makes no products and its sole business is to sue companies using patents they accumulate. We will continue to defend against their attempts to extract unreasonable payments for patents they acquire.”
