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posted by martyb on Saturday September 29 2018, @10:03PM   Printer-friendly
from the appealed-Apple dept.

Apple wins reversal in University of Wisconsin patent lawsuit

Apple Inc persuaded a federal appeals court on Friday to throw out a $234 million damages award in favor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's patent licensing arm for infringing a patent on computer processing technology.

In a 3-0 decision, the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals said Apple deserved judgment as a matter of law, because jurors could not have found infringement based on evidence introduced in the liability phase of a 2015 trial.

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, or WARF, sued Apple in 2014, saying processors in Apple's iPhone 5s, 6 and 6 Plus smartphones infringed a 1998 patent describing a means to improve performance by predicting instructions given by users.

"We hold that no reasonable juror could have found literal infringement in this case," Chief Judge Sharon Prost wrote for the Washington, D.C.-based appeals court.

Also at The Verge and Engadget.

In a related development, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) has ruled that they will not be imposing an import ban:

A bit over a year ago, Qualcomm started the process of suing Apple at the US International Trade Commission (ITC) over alleged patent infringement. At the time, Apple was accused of violating six Qualcomm patents, ranging from power-saving technology to processor design. And while the case is far from over, according to Reuters the ITC has delivered its initial determination, finding that Apple has violated one of the six patents. Importantly, however, the ITC has also ruled that they will not be imposing an import ban, as Qualcomm originally requested.

[...] The ITC, in turn, has ruled today as part of its initial determination that Apple has indeed violated a Qualcomm patent, albeit just one of those remaining patents – what Reuters calls “related to power management technology”. We’re waiting on the ITC to publish the formal decision in order to confirm which specific patent it was, as all three remaining patents are related to power efficiency.

Previously: Apple Faces Hefty Damages After Losing Patent Lawsuit to Univ. of Wisconsin
Apple Ordered to Pay $506 Million to the University of Wisconsin in Patent Case


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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 30 2018, @11:39AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 30 2018, @11:39AM (#742054)

    Doesn't this just give more weight to the idea that software should not be patentable
    How is this progress?

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  • (Score: 2) by TheRaven on Thursday October 04 2018, @01:13PM

    by TheRaven (270) on Thursday October 04 2018, @01:13PM (#744051) Journal
    Why would the validity of a hardware patent say anything about software patents?
    --
    sudo mod me up