MARSHALL, Texas, The national law firm of McKool Smith is announcing a $19 million patent infringement verdict handed down in favor of technology provider Opti Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., against computer software giant Apple Inc.
The verdict in Opti Inc. v. Apple Inc., No. 2:07-cv-00021, was delivered on April 23, 2009, by a jury appearing before Judge Charles “Chad” Everingham IV of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Marshall.
Jurors in the case found that Apple infringed a patent issued to Opti in June 2002. The contested patent, U.S. Patent No. 6,405,291, covers a computer operation that enables a “snooping” function designed to help computers more easily retrieve previously accessed data.
Opti was represented by a team of attorneys from McKool Smith and Chicago-based Winston & Strawn. The McKool Smith team included Rosemary Snider, Gary Kitchen, Jason Cassady and Carol Butner. The Winston & Strawn group included Michael Brody, Taras Gracey, J. Ethan McComb, Eric Mersmann and Sarah Frey.
In the verdict, jurors found that Apple willfully infringed the contested patent. The jury also rejected Apple’s contentions that the patent should be declared invalid. The $19 million verdict amount was awarded as fair and reasonable compensation to Opti for Apple’s willful patent violation, according to the verdict form.
Even with this loss it looks like that stealing technology remains very lucrative for Apple. With a very rough estimate you can quickly realize that Apple needs to sell around 45000 iPhones to cover the expense. First quarter of 2009 Apple sold 3.79 million iPhones, and if you think about the iTouch sales also, 19 million is a drop in the bucket.
Apple can absorb any lawsuit thrown at them, so patent theft will continue as long as it is profitable. “Good job” Apple,showing everyone that with the right marketing team crime does pay.
VN:F [1.8.4_1055]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)
VN:F [1.8.4_1055]
Popularity: 1% [?]