Apple ordered to pay $234 million to University of Wisconsin for infringing patent

A U.S. jury ordered Apple to pay the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s patent licensing arm more than $234 million in damages for incorporating its microchip technology into some of the company’s iPhones and iPads without permission.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • The amount was less than the $400 million the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) was claiming in damages after the jury said Apple infringed its patent for improving the performance of computer processors.
  • Apple said it would appeal the verdict, but declined to comment further. A representative for WARF could not immediately be reached.
  • Jurors deliberated for about 3-1/2 hours before returning the verdict in the closely watched case in federal court in Madison, Wisconsin. It was the second phase of a trial that began on Oct. 5.
  • The jury was considering whether Apple’s A7, A8 and A8X processors, found in the iPhone 5s, 6 and 6 Plus, as well as several versions of the iPad, violated the patent.
  • WARF sued Apple in January 2014 alleging infringement of its 1998 patent on a so-called “predictor circuit,” developed by computer science professor Gurindar Sohi and three of his students.
  • Much of the dispute over damages had to do with whether a certain portion of Apple’s chips that were placed in devices sold abroad, rather than in the United States, also violated the WARF patent. The jurors found that they did.
  • Apple had sought to greatly limit its liability, arguing before jurors that WARF deserved less than even the $110 million the foundation settled with Intel Corp after suing that company in 2008 over the same patent.
  • Apple had argued that WARF’s patent entitled it to as little as 7 cents per device sold, a far cry from the $2.74 that WARF was claiming.

Which University has sued Apple on the case of patent infringement?

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University of Wisconsin