The Federal Circuit on Thursday upended a jury verdict that required Apple to pay $7.3 million to Core Wireless Licensing SARL, which claimed iPads and iPhones infringed two of its patents covering wireless communications technology.
In December 2016 a California federal jury ruled that Apple’s iPads and iPhones infringe two of Core Wireless Licensing SARL’s mobile communication patents, awarding Core Wireless $7.3 million in damages in a long-running fight over technology that purportedly allows Apple’s products to work “wherever, and whenever.”
The legal battle centered on two patents that were originally owned by Nokia. In March 2015 a Texas jury ruled that Apple didn’t five wireless patents formerly held by Nokia that were sold to Canadian patent licensing firm Conversant. Core Wireless, Conversant’s subsidiary, sued Apple in 2012 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, seeking a global patent licensing deal with Apple over its iPhone and iPad. The five patents in were part of 2,000 that were once owned by Nokia. Conversant obtained the patents after acquiring Core Wireless in 2011.
