Jury orders Apple to pay $234 million for infringing university patents
Ars Technica 2015-10-16
Apple lost a patent case on Monday, when a federal jury in Wisconsin found that the smartphone giant infringed a patent that originated at the University of Wisconsin, and is now held by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF).
That ended the liability phase of the trial, and the judge overseeing the case decided that damages should be decided in a separate phase. The damages trial concluded today when the jury came back with its decision that Apple should pay $234 million for its infringement.
The verdict papers aren't yet available in the public courts database, but the $234 million figure has been reported by both Reuters and the Wisconsin State Journal. Court documents filed earlier in the case suggested Apple could have asked for up to $862 million in damages, but the ultimate ask was $400 million, or about $2.74 per infringing device, according to Reuters. Apple said it should only be made to pay 7 cents per device.