By Blake Brittain
– A U.S. appeals court docket on Friday affirmed a choice to throw out a $308.5 million jury verdict in opposition to Apple Inc for allegedly infringing a patent associated to digital rights administration.
The U.S. Court docket of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., upheld an East Texas federal decide’s ruling that Customized Media Communications LLC‘s patent was invalid as a result of the corporate engaged in misconduct earlier than the U.S. Patent and Trademark Workplace.
PMC declined to touch upon the choice. Representatives for Apple didn't instantly reply to a request for remark.
PMC, a patent licensing firm, first sued Apple for infringing a number of patents in 2015. An East Texas jury mentioned in August 2021 that the FairPlay software program utilized in Apple’s iTunes and App Retailer to decrypt films, music and apps infringed one of many patents and awarded the corporate $308.5 million in damages.
District Choose Rodney Gilstrap overturned the decision 4 months later. He mentioned PMC‘s patent was unenforceable as a result of the corporate had used a “deliberate technique of delay” in making use of for the patent, representing a “acutely aware and egregious misuse of the statutory patent system.”
Gilstrap mentioned PMC had used an improper “submarine” technique that some candidates employed earlier than 1995 to delay patents from turning into public till a market developed for his or her invention.
The Federal Circuit affirmed Gilstrap in a 2-1 ruling, discovering that PMC‘s “inequitable scheme to increase its patent rights” had prejudiced Apple.
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