Jury says Apple must pay MobileMedia $3 million in damages

A federal jury in Delaware has hit Apple with a $3 million damages verdict Wednesday after ruling that some of the company’s iPhone models infringe a MobileMedia Ideas owned patent covering incoming phone call alert sounds. MobileMedia sued Apple in 2010, claiming it infringed 14 patents for electronics. 

In December 2012, a U.S. jury ruled that Apple’s iPhone infringed three patents owned by holding company MobileMedia Ideas, though damages have not yet been determined. In court filings, Apple asked a judge to rule that MobileMedia’s patents are invalid as a matter of law, and that there is no “legally sufficient” basis to find MobileMedia has proven infringement.

MobileMedia Ideas is the patent portfolio licensor of inventions adopted by manufacturers of smart phones, mobile phones and other portable devices including personal computers, laptops, netbooks, person. Some might call the company a “patent troll.”