The consumer electronics giant Apple has triumphed in a patent infringement appeal case which could have seen the technology corporation pay out $625 million (£383 million) in damages.
The dispute centres on allegations made by small technology firm Mirror Worlds that Apple violated three patents in its Time Machine, Cover Flow and Spotlight systems. The case was fought from 2008 to the end of 2010, when a federal jury in Texas found in favour of Mirror Worlds and ordered Apple to pay $207.5 million in damages for each infringement. This is believed to have been one of the largest settlement sums ever awarded in a patent infringement case.
However, it now seems that Apple may no longer have to rely on its professional indemnity insurance to cover the mammoth compensation payment, as the ruling has been overturned. Judge Leonard Davis said that Mirror Worlds’ owner Professor David Gelernter failed to properly make his case and had not provided enough evidence to support its case.
Whilst neither party has yet commented on the ruling, Judge Davis has said:
“Mirror Worlds may have painted an appealing picture for the jury,
“But it failed to lay a solid foundation sufficient to support important elements it was required to establish under the law.”