Cupertino – Apple this week managed to lose a patent case that involves iTunes software and was ordered by the court to pay a hefty $532.9 million in fines. Apple claims it never used the patents, so expect the company’s lawyers to file an appeal.
A Texas-based company, Smartflash, owns the patents in question, and according to Apple, the company is just a patent troll, which is reasons enough for the Cupertino giant to push hard just to prevent paying Smartflash $532.9 million in damages.
A spokeswoman of Apple came out with some fighting words when she claimed Smartflash is a patent troll that doesn’t have any employees, nor does the company create any products. Because of this, Apple has no intention to pay, so we expect this battle to turn into a bitter fight to the end.
“Smartflash makes no products, has no employees, creates no jobs, has not U.S. presence, and is exploiting our patent system to seek royalties for technology Apple invented,” an Apple spokeswoman said in an email. “We refused to pay off this company for the ideas our employees spent years innovating and unfortunately we have been left with no choice but to take this fight up through the court system.”
In defense of itself, Smartflash says the jury made the right decisions after going over all the evidence that were provided to them.
“Ultimately, the jury saw through Apple’s arguments and reached the right result,” according to a Samrtflash lawyer in a statement after the ruling was handed down. “The jury’s verdict provides well-deserved and long-overdue recognition.”
We have no love for patent trolls, but if the court system goes in favor of the troll, then we have no choice but the respect the decision made.
However, we’d like to see what Apple plans to do next, only hoping the iPhone factory doesn’t stretch out this battle for years to come.
