It’s another week of fascinating patent news, and we’re here to make sure you don’t miss out on anything.
Check out the top patent news stories from the past week below.
A Judge Has Ordered Apple to Pay Over $500 Million to WARF Over Patent Infringement
This past Tuesday, a judge in Wisconsin ordered Apple to pay $506 million to the Wisconsin Alumni Research Association for infringement against a patent that covers computer processing.
The suit, which was originally filed in 2014, alleged that Apple had infringed on a patent held by WARF that covered a “table based data speculation circuit for parallel processing computer.” WARF alleged that Apple was using this technology in their phones for years, even after they had brought suit against the company for infringing on the patent.
The patent in question was won by a University of Wisconsin professor and three students in 1998. It covers technology that helps a device predict which instructions a user will input, and WARF alleges that Apple was using the technology in their phones through December 2016, when the patent officially expired.
U.S. District Court Judge William Conley ruled that Apple would have to pay an additional $272 million, on top of the $234 that Apple was ordered to pay WARF in 2015. Both rulings together total $506 million that Apple now owes to WARF.
Apple will reportedly appeal the decision.
The Beatles’ Company Wins in Suit Over Shea Stadium Concert Footage
Less than a year ago, Hulu released a highly-anticipated documentary about the Beatles’ touring years titled Eight Days a Week. The doc was directed by the esteemed Ron Howard, garnered a 95% Fresh rating on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, and struck a chord with fans across generations.
Amid the fanfare, however, legal disputes were raging.
Just a few days before the doc was released, representatives of Sid Bernstein brought suit against Apple Corps. and Subafilms Ltd. over 30 minutes of footage from a legendary Beatles concert that was used in the film.
Sid Bernstein was the concert promoter for the Beatles’ 1965 show at Shea Stadium, and the suit alleges that the doc’s footage of the concert is owned by Sid Bernstein Presents LLC. Bernstein’s reps insist that the footage is rightly his because he facilitated and paid for the show to take place.
Apple Corps, on the other hand, insists that the video coverage of the Shea Stadium concert was done by Ed Sullivan’s Sullivan Productions and NEMS Enterprises (the company of the Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein), and is therefore rightly owned by Apple Corps. and Subafilm Ltd.
The judge in the case dismissed the suit this week, on grounds that Bernstein did not provide the impetus for or invest in the copyrighted work—the Concert footage—and that the contract signed by Bernstein before the concert held no reference to rights over the video footage.
Apple Corps. noted that Bernstein had passed away in 2013 and had never claimed ownership of the concert footage while he was alive.
Subfilms Ltd. was granted the copyright to the concert footage in 1988 by Apple Corps.
Apple Has Reportedly Paid Nokia $2 Billion in Patent Dispute (and Hopes to Collaborate on R&D in the Future)
Apple just can’t stay out of the news this week.
In other Apple-related rumblings, the company has reportedly paid Nokia $2 billion in a patent-related dispute that came to a head this past May.
It all started last year when Nokia alleged that Apple had infringed on several of Nokia’s patents, as well as patents of the Nokia-owned companies NSN and Alcatel-Lucent. According to Nokia, Apple’s patent infringement stretches all the way back to technology used on the iPhone 3GS and includes patented software, chipsets, coding and more.
It appears that the boil between the two companies has been decidedly snuffed, as Nokia announced that Apple would pay them $2 billion in upfront cash. Apple had also previously removed several Nokia-owned products from its stores, but following this newest cash settlement news, those products are again available on Apple shelves.
There are also reports that the two companies have foregone a traditional patent licensing agreement in favor of a collaboration—on technology and research and development.
We’ll keep you posted on the status of that supposed partnership.
Need More Patent News? Want News on Patents in Your Industry?
For many companies, success depends on preempting their competitors’ moves and responding to innovative strides taken in the industry.
But how do you keep up with the strides and innovations? You have to pay attention to the patent landscapes among your competitors and within your industry.
There are several patent databases available for research, but many of them are difficult to use or inaccurate in their information. That’s why IPVision’s see-the-forest.com is such a valuable resource. Not only is this patent database easy to use, it also provides more comprehensive patent information than any other free database available.
IP Vision also offers one of the most robust patent resources available in its Advantage Dashboard. The Advantage Dashboard is the ideal tool for staying up-to-date on patent news, your competitors’ IP and other developments in innovation within your industry.
Ready to kick start your innovation expertise and get ahead in your industry?
