Apple’s key victory in patent lawsuit with Optis: $300 million in damages verdict is revoked, case to be retried – Passionategeekz

Passionategeekz June 18th news, Apple achieved a major legal victory in its longest patent lawsuit on Monday. The US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the $300 million compensation judgment that Apple had been asked to pay Optis Wireless Technology.

The latest ruling marks the second time a judgment of up to nine-digit compensation in the case has been overturned, Reuters reported. Currently, the case will be back in Texas for another trial.

Optis, a Texas-based intellectual property management company, sued Apple for the first time in 2019, claiming that Apple’s iPhone and other products infringe on several of its LTE-related patents.

In 2020, a jury initially ruled that Apple would pay $506 million in damages, but was then overturned by District Judge Rodney Gilstrapp and ordered a retrial to reassess the amount of damages. At that time, the judge found that the determination of the compensation did not fully consider Optis’ obligation to authorize its standard essential patents on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.

In the second trial, the jury adjusted the amount of compensation to $300 million. Apple then filed an appeal, and despite being told that it would not be given a second (actually the third) chance, Apple eventually won the appeal and received a new trial opportunity.

According to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, the issue this time is not the specific amount of compensation, but the way the jury was initially asked to make a ruling.

In the new ruling, a three-judge panel noted that Judge Gilstrapp’s jury directed the erroneous merger of multiple patents in a single infringement issue, “deprived Apple of the right to obtain a unanimous ruling on every legal claim against it.”

In other words, the jury did not have the opportunity to make a separate ruling on each patent that Optis accused Apple of infringement. Therefore, the entire case (including the tort and compensation portion) will be back in Texas for retrial.

In fact, Optis also sued Apple for infringing relevant LTE patents overseas. Just last month, a British court ruled that Apple would pay Optis about $502 million in damages. Apple has said it plans to appeal. Although these two cases are completely independent, this US ruling may bring some confidence to Apple’s British legal team.

According to 9to5Mac, an Optis spokesman said: “We remain firmly convinced that the court will award reasonable compensation for Optis’ key patents that support the high-speed connection of millions of Apple’s devices. The ruling does not challenge the underlying facts that Apple infringes on Optis’ patents and allows a new trial on damages. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit did not find any patents invalid.”

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