In August 2020, an Eastern District of Texas jury ruled that Apple should pay PanOptis and related companies more than $506 million for willfully infringing patents covering 4G LTE technology. But PanOptis wants more.
Th $506 million was considered a royalty for past sales, according to the verdict form. According to Law360 (a subscription is required to read the entire article), PanOptis argues that it should be awarded $4.22 per iPhone, $3.62 per iPad that infringes its patents, and $2.25 per Apple Watch.
“Case law and the facts strongly support an ongoing royalty at a rate higher than that awarded by the jury on a per patent, per-unit basis,” said PanOptis in a court motion. “Nonetheless, plaintiffs seek an ongoing rate solely at the per-patent, per-unit rate awarded by the jury, without an increase.”
PanOptis is described as an “an intellectual property management and finance firm.” In other words, a “patent troll.”
In February 2019, a group of firms operating under the name Optis Wireless Technology (including Optis Wireless Technology LLC, Unwired Planet LLC, and PanOptis Patent Management LLC) sued Apple over seven patents connected to LTE cellular standards. Every LTE Apple device is affected, including not just iPhones but iPads and the Apple Watch, according to court documents. The plaintiffs — who seem to be “patent trolls” — say that, as recently as January 2017, they were talking to Apple about licensing patents on FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) terms, but came to no agreement.
By the way, a patent troll is an individual or an organization that purchases and holds patents for unscrupulous purposes such as stifling competition or launching patent infringement suits. In legal terms, a patent troll is a type of non-practicing entity: someone who holds a patent but is not involved in the design or manufacture of any product or process associated with that patent.
