Apple ordered to pay $506USD million to University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Apple has been ordered by U.S. District Judge William Conley to pay the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s patent licensing arm $506USD million. Initially, a jury had awarded the university $234USD million but the judge added another $272USD million for damages and interest. The judge says that even after the initial judgment, Apple continued to infringe on the patent thus his reasoning for more than doubling the amount owed.

The patent that has led to this hefty fine revolves around a “predictor circuit” that helps improve processor performance. The school brought a suit against Apple in 2014, when they discovered that some iPhone models were using this technology. The patent for this “predictor circuit” was obtained by science professor Gurindar Sohi and three of his students in 1998.

During the trial, Apple denied any sort of infringement on the university’s patent and also argued that patent was invalid. Apple requested that the U.S. Patent office review the validity of the patent but that request was turned down.

The school has another lawsuit against Apple for different chip versions but that will not be ruled on until a later date. Apple has already filed an appeal against Judge Conley’s ruling hoping to avoid paying the $506USD million judgment against them.

As is the norm for Apple, they have not responded to press inquiries on the matter nor do we expect them to just now. It will be interesting to see how the appeal goes and where the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s second lawsuit goes as well. Apple is no stranger to litigation and right or wrong, expect them to fight to the tooth over a case this large.

What do you think of the judge’s ruling? Do you think Apple infringed on the patent? Let us know in the comments below or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.

[button link=”http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ip-apple-patent-idUSKBN1AB023″ icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Heroic Reuters[/button]
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