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Apple ordered to pay $506 million to university in patent dispute

 

 

     THOMAS TRUTSCHEL/PHOTOTHEK/GETTY IMAGES

 

 

Apple Inc ordered to pay $506 million on Monday for infringing patent owned by the University of Wisconsin-Madison's patent licensing arm, more than doubling the damages initially imposed on Apple by a jury.

Justice Department added $272 million to a $234 million jury verdict the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation won against Apple in October 2015. Justice said WARF is owed additional damages plus interest because Apple continued to infringe the patent, which obtained by University of Wisconsin computer science professor and three of his students, until it expired in December 2016.

Apple is appealing against ruling, according to court papers. An Apple spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment.

WARF sued Apple in 2014, alleging processors found in some versions of the iPhone infringe on the patent. Cupertino, California-based Apple denied any infringement during a 2015 jury trial and argued the patent is invalid. Apple also urged the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to review the patent's validity but the agency rejected that bid.

 

Extracted from www.reuters.com