CUPERTINO (dpa-AFX) - A Texas jury has determined that Apple Inc (AAPL) must pay $300 million to Optis Wireless Technologies LLC and related companies for alleged patent infringement. According to Reuters, the tech giant has used Optis' patented 4g LTE technologies in iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch wrongly.
In a previous ruling in August 2020, Apple was fined $506 million but federal judge Rodney Gilstrap deemed it to be too much for the allegations. An Apple spokesman said to The Verge, 'Optis makes no products and its sole business is to sue companies using patents they accumulate. We will continue to defend against their attempts to extract unreasonable payments for patents they acquire.'
According to The Verge, five of the patents once belonged to LG, Panasonic, and Samsung. Non-practicing companies like Optis and its sister bodies like Optis Cellular Technology, Unwired Planet, and Unwired Planet International are companies that buy patents from companies and sell them for profits or earn through similar settlements. These firms are called 'patent trolls',
Apple was in a similar case previously where it was asked to pay $300 million to Personalised Media Communications for FairPlay Digital Rights Management. However, Apple managed to overturn the decision as a spokesperson had expressed, 'Cases like this, brought by companies that don't make or sell any products, stifle innovation and ultimately harm consumers.'
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