Apple was recently accused by a Canadian company of the unauthorized use of some of its own technologies in the products launched on the market in recent years and sued it, asking for 100 million dollars in damages. 5 patents were brought into discussion by the Canadian company, they are related to technologies for wireless communications, but the trial jury was of the opinion that Apple did not infringe them.
The jury's decision is based on the fact that the respective patents belonged to another company, but they had initially been registered to Nokia and were part of the FRAND standard, meaning they could be used with the payment of reasonable licenses. The Canadian company argued the opposite and stated that Apple used them without the right, although at the time of the first implementation in iDevices, in 2011, Apple relied on the fact that the patents can be used without a special licensing agreement concluded with the holding company .
The jury deliberated for about five hours before delivering its verdict on Monday night. The company, whose patents were originally held by Nokia Corp, was seeking $100 million in damages at trial. It said it was entitled to a portion of Apple's device sales, and of similar, future devices. Apple pegged damages, if any, at less than $1 million. The jury also rejected Apple's claim that Core Wireless breached its obligation to license its patents, which are considered essential in the industry, on fair and non-discriminatory terms.
Separately from the cancellation of the initial complaint, the jury also rejected a complaint by Apple that accused the Canadian company of violating the terms regarding the use of FRAND patents, so nobody won anything at all from this battle.
