A U.S. jury has rendered a verdict finding Apple to infringe three patents held by MobileMedia Ideas, a patent monetization entity set up by Nokia, Sony and MPEG LA. MobileMedia Ideas' CEO is also the CEO of MPEG LA.
Here's the public redacted version of the jury verdict:
MobileMedia Ideas v Apple Verdict (Redacted)These are the three patents-in-suit (in the order in which they appear in the verdict form), all of which were considered valid by the jury:
U.S. Patent No. 6,070,068 on a "communication terminal device and method for controlling a connecting state of a call into a desired connection state upon a predetermined operation by a user"
filed by Sony in 1997
claims 23 and 24 deemed infringed directly by Apple
U.S. Patent No. 6,253,075 on a "method and apparatus for incoming call rejection"
filed by Nokia in 1998
claims 5, 6 and 10 deemed infringed directly by Apple
filed by Nokia in 1997
claim 73 deemed infringed directly by Apple
Apple can try to fight this verdict, but an infringement verdict based on six claims from three different patents suggests that Apple will soon have to take a license from MobileMedia Ideas, which means that Nokia, which is already receiving royalties from Apple under a settlement, is going to get even more money from Cupertino.
But this is not just about Apple. Other companies are now also going to be more willing to pay for a license to MobileMedia Ideas' portfolio. When MobileMedia Ideas sued Apple in 2010, it simultaneously sued HTC and RIM in the Eastern District of Texas.
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