A Texas jury has cleared Apple of infringing five wireless patents originally held by Nokia. The patents were acquired by a subsidiary of Conversant Intellectual Property Management Inc, which then sued Apple for $100 million.
Apple argued that even if it had infringed the patents, which it denied, a fair license fee would be less than $1M.
Reuters reports that the federal jury took five hours to deliberate on Monday before finding in favor of Apple.
Even if Conversant had won, it’s possible that they wouldn’t have received the majority of the payout, as it might have gone to Microsoft and Nokia. Conversant took control of the patents when it acquired a company called Core Wireless.
In its purchase of Core Wireless, Conversant agreed to return two-thirds of any revenue from licensing and litigating the patents back to Microsoft and Nokia, according to the documents. A Microsoft representative on Monday night could not confirm whether that agreement was still in force.
Apple’s lawyers are likely some of the busiest in the tech industry, as the company holds the record for having been sued by more patent trolls than any other company.
Apple recently lost in a case brought by Smartflash, and was ordered to pay over a half billion dollars in damages, when a federal jury found that certain iTunes apps infringed on the Texas-based company’s digital rights management, storage, and payments system management patents.
Apple is appealing the decision, while the emboldened Smartflash has filed to extend the damages to devices introduced since the original lawsuit was filed.
