Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Wi-LAN Loses Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Apple

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,489
30,728



wilan_logo-250x49.jpg
Canadian firm Wi-LAN today lost an ongoing lawsuit against Apple over two patents related to CDMA, HSPA, Wi-Fi and LTE technologies. First filed in 2011, the lawsuit claimed that Apple infringed on Wi-LAN patents RE37,802 (CDMA/HSPA) and 5,282,222 (LTE/Wi-Fi).

Wi-LAN, a company focusing solely on licensing its intellectual property, was attempting to win $248 million from Apple. Following the loss, Wi-LAN will get no money, but the company has won settlements from Alcatel-Lucent, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, HTC, Novatel Wireless, and Sierra Wireless over the same patent portfolio.

The company has issued a statement on the loss, stating that it is reviewing its options going forward.
Trial proceedings involving the remaining defendant, Apple, Inc., began on October 15, 2013. Today, the jury trial determined that U.S. Patent No RE37,802 was not infringed and claims 1 and 10 were found invalid.

WiLAN is disappointed with the jury's decision and is currently reviewing its options with trial counsel, McKool Smith. WiLAN does not believe previous license agreements signed related to the patents are negatively impacted by this decision.
Click to expand...
Wi-LAN has filed multiple lawsuits against Apple, including one in 2010 over Bluetooth technology and several additional lawsuits in 2012 over LTE and HSPA technologies.

Article Link: Wi-LAN Loses Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Apple
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/10/23/wi-lan-loses-patent-infringement-lawsuit-against-apple/
Dulcimer

Dulcimer

macrumors 6502a
Nov 20, 2012
892
696
Why did others including Dell, HP, and HTC settle while Apple didn't? Surely they're using the same wireless tech?
 
A

allistera

macrumors regular
Sep 17, 2012
183
57
"WiLAN (trading as Wi-LAN Inc.) is a technology development and intellectual property licensing company"

Yet another Patent Troll trying, and failing to get a piece of free cake.
 
H

hoon2999

macrumors regular
Mar 30, 2012
137
119
They won every other company but Apple. I bet its the same jury who let Apple take over "rounded corner square" design. Oh my god i just found out my $10 food tray has rounded corners. They are screwed.
 
B

Brian Y

macrumors 68040
Oct 21, 2012
3,776
1,064
When are they going to introduce a law that you cannot hold a patent for a technology you don't actively use? Surely that would stop these damn trolls.
 
T

Tigger11

macrumors 6502a
Jul 2, 2009
536
394
Rocket City, USA
hoon2999 said:
They won every other company but Apple. I bet its the same jury who let Apple take over "rounded corner square" design. Oh my god i just found out my $10 food tray has rounded corners. They are screwed.
Click to expand...

Actually despite what the article implies they have never won a case as far as I can tell, HP, Dell etc, all signed a licensing agreement with them, while Apple let the case go to court and won. Alot of companies are afraid of the damages and settle even when they are in the right as Apple was today. The rest of the companies are now paying in some cases millions of dollars a year, for something the court has found Apple at least isn't infringing.
-Tig
 
T

Tigger11

macrumors 6502a
Jul 2, 2009
536
394
Rocket City, USA
Plutonius said:
The article claimed that they won settlements (i.e. court ruled in their favor) from the other companies (the other companies didn't settle).
Click to expand...

The other companies wanted the law suit over, so they offered money to license the technology and get it over, no court had ruled in Wi-Lans favor in fact they lost another case in August against many of these same people. Apple still wanted a court ruling instead of just paying the patent troll to go away and now they have won, which is what would have happened for everyone if the others hadnt bailed and decided to pay Wi-Lan.
-Tig
 
J

jdechko

macrumors 601
Jul 1, 2004
4,230
325
Brian Y said:
When are they going to introduce a law that you cannot hold a patent for a technology you don't actively use? Surely that would stop these damn trolls.
Click to expand...

We may be getting closer than you think.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/10/its-finally-here-a-bill-to-end-patent-trolling/

Doesn't ban NPE's but certainly a step in the right direction.
 
J

jw2002

macrumors 6502
Feb 23, 2008
392
59
SJism23 said:
Why did others including Dell, HP, and HTC settle while Apple didn't? Surely they're using the same wireless tech?
Click to expand...

Because, unfortunately, with the broken patent system that we have, it is often cheaper to give in and pay the extortion, even when you are in the right as clearly Dell, HP, and others were -- and even when it's about silly, obvious, junk patents like those in WI-LAN's portfolio.
 
Doctor Q

Doctor Q

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 19, 2002
39,782
7,514
Los Angeles
Perhaps Wi-LAN's loss will encourage other targets of their lawsuits to fight back rather than settle.

But the problem remains that small companies can't afford to fight back, even if they'd very likely win.
 
gnasher729

gnasher729

Suspended
Nov 25, 2005
17,980
5,565
hoon2999 said:
They won every other company but Apple. I bet its the same jury who let Apple take over "rounded corner square" design. Oh my god i just found out my $10 food tray has rounded corners. They are screwed.
Click to expand...

What a stupidity.
The Samsung Galaxy S3 is rectangular with rounded corners.
Guess what: Samsung has a design patent for the Galaxy S3.
If anybody copies it, round corners and all, Samsung will sue them.

These patent trolls didn't win _any_ court cases. They got settlements, from companies who know that a court case can cost many millions even if you win.

----------
jdechko said:
We may be getting closer than you think.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/10/its-finally-here-a-bill-to-end-patent-trolling/

Doesn't ban NPE's but certainly a step in the right direction.
Click to expand...

They should adopt the German method for civil court cases.

Step 1: The judge determines how much money they are arguing about. Claimant says how much they want, defendant says how much they are wllling to pay, and the case is about the difference.

Step 2: The judge consults a table that says how much this costs. If you argue about $240 million in Euros as in this case, there will be a certain percentage of the cost for claimant's lawyers, defendant's lawyers, and for the court. (Yes, you have to pay for the court, not the tax payer as in the USA).

Step 3: When the case is finished, the judge decides how much the defendant has to pay. Then he calculates what percentage this is of the money they argued about. The cost for lawyers and court is then split according to that percentage.

So if the patent company asked for $200 million and was awarded $20 million, the defendant would pay 10% of the lawyers and court cost, and the claimant 90%. Except if the defendant had already offered to pay $20 million, in which case the claimant would pay all the cost.

This also keeps people from asking the court for ridiculous amounts of money. You could sue me for a billion Euros for hurt feelings, but when the judge feels that your feelings were indeed hurt and I should pay you 100 Euros, you are stuck with 99.99999% of a 20 million Euro bill for the court and the lawyers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom