Washington, D.C. — Apple has successfully challenged a $300 million patent infringement ruling, with a federal appeals court vacating both the infringement finding and damages awarded against the tech giant. This decision highlights the substantial consequences that can arise from procedural missteps in legal proceedings, particularly in high-stakes patent cases.
In a 2020 ruling, a Texas jury concluded that Apple had violated several Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) held by Optis. These patents are crucial because they must be licensed on terms that are “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory” (FRAND) to those wanting to adhere to the associated standards. The jury determined that a reasonable royalty for Apple’s past sales amounted to more than $506 million.
Following the verdict, Apple contended that the jury did not consider Optis’s obligation to license these patents under FRAND terms. The district court agreed to a partial retrial, focusing solely on the damages. In that subsequent hearing, the jury ultimately awarded Optis a lump-sum amount of $300 million, which has now been overturned.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has remanded the case for a new trial on both infringement and damages, agreeing with Apple that the jury’s verdict form was flawed. Specifically, the court pointed out that the form improperly combined all the patents into a single infringement question. This structured allowed the jury to determine that Apple was liable without all jurors reaching a consensus on whether the same patent was infringed.
The appellate judges emphasized that this approach compromised Apple’s Seventh Amendment right, which entitles a defendant to a unanimous jury verdict regarding each legal claim. They noted that the aggregation of various patents into a single question led to ambiguities concerning the extent of Apple’s infringement, making the lump-sum damages flawed.
In addition to concerns about jury instructions, the panel noted that one of the patents in dispute was too abstract to be effectively litigated in the manner proposed by Optis. Moreover, the district court failed to adequately assess a second patent to determine whether Optis’s claims were sufficiently clear to fulfill the legal standards for “means-plus-function” claims.
This ruling underscores the intricate dynamics of patent litigation, particularly regarding SEPs, and how critical procedural accuracy is to fair outcomes. As the case moves forward, both parties will prepare for what could be another lengthy legal battle.
The case is identified as Optis Cellular Tech. LLC v. Apple Inc., in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, under docket number 22-1925.
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