Jury finds Apple guilty of patent infringement from University of Wisconsin
A US jury has found Apple guilty of violating a patent for processors owned by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. The process now continues to determine the amount of damages that Apple will have to pay.
According to the WARF, which filed the lawsuit in January 2014, Apple is infringing its 1998 patent on improving the efficiency of chips. The jury found Apple guilty on all counts and believes that the manufacturer infringes the patent with the A7, A8 and A8X socs.
Apple faces a fine of up to 862 million dollars, converted 756 million euros. The process now continues to determine the amount of damages that Apple will have to pay. If it turns out that Apple has intentionally committed patent infringement, the amount could rise even further.
According to Reuters, Apple denies the allegations and says the patent in question is invalid. Apple has previously requested the Uspto to investigate the validity of the patent, but that request was rejected in April of this year.
The WARF, which manages patents for the University of Wisconsin, previously sued Intel for infringing the same patent. That case was settled out of court with a settlement in 2009; it is not known under what conditions. In the meantime, the University of Wisconsin has filed a new case against Apple, because Apple also infringes the patent in the A9 and A9X socs from the iPhone 6s and iPad Pro, according to the foundation.