“Motorola could be forced to pay up to $16.2 billion in guaranteed compensation if the company ultimately loses its patent dispute with Apple in Germany, as the $2.7 billion figure the iPhone maker was quoted as seeking in November has been clarified as a yearly estimate,” Mikey Campbell reports for AppleInsider.
“In a hearing on Friday, Apple made clear that it estimates a bond of $2.7 billion per year will cover the losses suffered if Motorola prematurely enforces possible injunctions on iCloud that are later overturned, according to Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents,” Campbell reports. “He goes on to say that a lawyer on Motorola’s legal team mentioned the case may last until 2018, potentially making the $2.7 billion yearly bond worth $16.2 billion.”
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Florian Mueller reports for FOSS Patents, “The end of the process means that the ruling (or a subsequent appellate decision) can no longer be appealed, or it is appealed but the next higher court isn’t willing to hear the appeal, or a party doesn’t exercise its right to appeal (or withdraws its appeal.”
“I don’t know if anyone ever enforced a ruling against a multi-billion bond in Germany. But given what’s at stake between these litigants on a global scale, it’s not entirely impossible that it might happen in this case,” Mueller writes. “I could also see Apple post huge bonds to enforce German rulings against its rivals, depending on the overall circumstances.”
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