US court throws out $100m patent claim against Apple

A US court ruled on Monday (March 16) that Apple did not infringe five patents owned by licensing technology company Conversant.

The complaint was originally filed by Core Wireless Licensing, a subsidiary of Conversant, at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas Tyler Division in 2012.

In its original complaint, Conversant claimed 15 US patents covering the wireless transmission of data were infringed by technology used in Apple’s iPad and iPhone devices.

Before yesterday’s ruling Conversant amended its claims twice and reduced the number of patents it accused Apple of infringing to five.

Conversant demanded a royalty payment from every product Apple sold that it claimed infringed the patents, which it estimated would amount to around $100 million.

But a jury voted unanimously that Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices did not infringe any of the patents.

Nokia was listed as the original owner of the patents. Conversant acquired Core Wireless and a portfolio of around 2,000 patents, including the five involved in the row, from Nokia in 2011.

Neither Apple nor Conversant responded to a request for comment.