“Apple Inc. could be facing up to $862 million in damages after a U.S. jury on Tuesday found that the iPhone maker used technology owned by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s licensing arm without permission in chips found in many of its most popular devices,” Andrew Chung reports for Reuters.
“The jury in Madison, Wisconsin also said the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation’s patent, which improves processor efficiency, was valid,” Chung reports. “The trial will now move on to determine how much Apple owes in damages.”
“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, violate the patent,” Chung reports. “Last month, WARF launched a second lawsuit against Apple, this time targeting the company’s newest chips, the A9 and A9X, used in the just-released iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, as well as the iPad Pro.”
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“Trial proceedings began on Oct. 5, over a year and a half after WARF first filed its complaint against Apple with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin in early 2014. In its case, WARF asserts Apple incorporated patented computer microarchitecture into the A7 system-on-chip design, a component used in numerous iOS devices,” Mikey Campbell reports for AppleInsider. “”As the University of Wisconsin’s non-profit patent management body, WARF patents and licenses inventions developed at the institution, with proceeds gained put toward future research projects.”
“The initial complaint named A7 and all the products it powered at the time, a list that included iPhone 5S, iPad Air, and iPad Mini with Retina display. Apple subsequently incorporated the chip into iPad mini 3 models,” Campbell reports. “Apple introduced its dual-core, ARM-based A7 chip with iPhone 5s in 2013 as the world’s first consumer ready 64-bit mobile processor. The chip also included an embedded secure enclave that stores operational data for iPhone 5s and iPad mini 3 Touch ID fingerprint systems.”
Campbell reports, “WARF leveraged the same patent against Intel’s Core 2 Duo CPU in 2008, a case settled out of court in 2009 for an undisclosed sum, according to a 2014 report from The Register.”
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MacDailyNews Take: $862 million is not an insignificant amount (to anyone but Apple Inc.). We’ll keep an eye on this case as it winds through the “system” to see how juries outside of Madison, Wisconsin regard this Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation patent.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz,” “Jeff.L,” and “Edward W.” for the heads up.]