A federal jury in Texas said Apple must pay about $308.5 million to Personalized Media Communications LLC (PMC) for infringing a patent associated with digital rights management (DRM) and directed Apple to pay a running royalty to PMC, which is generally based on the amount of sales of a product or service.
Apple said it was disappointed with the verdict and planned to appeal. “Cases like this, brought by companies that don’t make or sell any products, stifle innovation and ultimately harm consumers,” it said in an emailed statement.
PMC, a licensing firm, had originally sued Apple in 2015 alleging the tech giant’s iTunes service infringed seven of its patents.
MacDailyNews Take: $308.5 million for a DRM patent that Apple is alleged to have infringed. For perspective, Samsung paid Apple $539 million for basically copying the iPhone, however poorly.
