BY LISA BOSE
MCDERMOTT
A U.S. jury on Friday found Apple Inc (AAPL.O) did not infringe five antipiracy patents owned
by a Pendrell Corp (PCO.O) subsidiary at trial in a Texas federal court.
The jury also found that Apple did not prove
that the patents were invalid. No damages were awarded to Pendrell subsidiary
ContentGuard Holdings.
An Apple attorney declined to comment. Samuel
Baxter, an attorney for ContentGuard, said they are disappointed by the outcome
and evaluating options.
The trial came after a jury in a separate case
in the same court in September cleared Google Inc (GOOGL.O) of infringing the same five patents. Samsung
Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) was also cleared in that case.
ContentGuard sued Apple in 2013 and Google and
Samsung in 2014 alleging infringement of several antipiracy patents that help
to restrict content to authorized users.
The company claimed Apple infringed by making
and selling its popular devices, which use the iTunes and iBooks applications,
to distribute DRM-protected songs, movies, TV shows and books. Apple denied any
infringement and said the patents are invalid.
ContentGuard emerged from a partnership in 2000
between Xerox Corp and Microsoft Corp to form a digital rights management
business, according to court papers. It is now owned by Kirkland,
Washington-based Pendrell Corp, a publicly traded patent management company,
and Time Warner.
Through its subsidiaries, Pendrell holds about
1,200 patents worldwide.
No comments:
Post a Comment