Apple to Pay $533 million in Patent Infringement Case

Apple has been ordered to pay $533 million after it was found that three patents held by Smartflash have been infringed by iTunes. This order was made by a Texas jury.

Smartflash originally demanded $852 million in settlements. But after an 8 hour deliberation, where the jury found that Apple had knowingly infringed the patents without Smartflash’s permission. Apple in a statement has said it would appeal, finding fault in the court’s patent system. They believe that it was them who worked on the ideas, and they do not want to pay off a company who did not make the product in the first place.

A spokesperson for Apple also criticized the deliberation by saying that Smartflash’s claims for a lawsuit are exploitative because they make no products or have employees to create ideas, but are rather staking a claim on technologies that Apple’s employees have worked on and invented.

The original lawsuit was filed by Smartflash in 2013, stating that iTunes has been using their patents to access and store music, games and videos. The trial for this was conducted in Tyler, a place where most patent lawsuits are settled.

This is not the only lawsuit that Smartflash is involved in. They have also filed cases against Google, Samsung and Amazon. The Samsung case is next in line.