Thursday, December 13, 2012

Nokia-Sony-MPEG LA entity wins jury verdict against Apple over three patents

A U.S. jury has rendered a verdict finding Apple to infringe three patents held by MobileMedia Ideas, a patent monetization entity set up by Nokia, Sony and MPEG LA. MobileMedia Ideas' CEO is also the CEO of MPEG LA.

Here's the public redacted version of the jury verdict:

MobileMedia Ideas v Apple Verdict (Redacted)

These are the three patents-in-suit (in the order in which they appear in the verdict form), all of which were considered valid by the jury:

Apple can try to fight this verdict, but an infringement verdict based on six claims from three different patents suggests that Apple will soon have to take a license from MobileMedia Ideas, which means that Nokia, which is already receiving royalties from Apple under a settlement, is going to get even more money from Cupertino.

But this is not just about Apple. Other companies are now also going to be more willing to pay for a license to MobileMedia Ideas' portfolio. When MobileMedia Ideas sued Apple in 2010, it simultaneously sued HTC and RIM in the Eastern District of Texas.

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