A federal judge has ruled in favor of a previous jury decision that orders Apple to pay the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation $234.3 million for infringing on a processor patent held by the foundation.
U.S. District Court Judge William M. Conley handed down his decision on Monday, agreeing with a jury’s finding that Apple infringed on six claims of U.S. Patent No. 5,781,752 with its A7 and A8 system-on-chip designs. The jury turned in its decision earlier this month.
Apple had argued that its A7 and A8 chips do not meet strict criteria detailed in the patent-in-suit, and also argued that a processor must be fully operational to be capable of infringement. (The second argument was part of an attempt to blame A-series chip manufacturer Samsung.)
While Judge Conley dismissed Apple’s motions, he did not go as far as to find that Apple had willfully infringed on the patent, a ruling that prevents WARF from getting enhanced damages that could have totaled up to $862 million.
Apple denies infringing on WARF’s design, which is aimed at boosting performance and improving power efficiency, via branch predicting circuits. The Cupertino firm had petitioned the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to invalidate WARF’s patent, but that petition was rejected earlier this year.
September saw WARF file a second lawsuit against Apple, covering the Cupertino firm’s latest A9 and A9X chips, which currently power the iPhone 6s, 6s Plus and the upcoming iPad Pro.
