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$85 million patent verdict, largest ever against Google, wiped out on appeal

4 04 2016

In 2014, an East Texas jury ordered Google to pay $85 million to SimpleAir, a “patent troll” company with no business beyond enforcing its patents. It was a massive victory for the company, which claimed that Google’s use of push notifications in Android phones infringed its US Patent No. 7,035,914.

SimpleAir’s victory, the largest patent verdict ever won against Google, has since fallen apart. Google appealed the ruling, and on Friday a three-judge panel at the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held (PDF) that the lower court judge didn’t interpret the patent claims correctly and that Google does not infringe.

The ruling is another signpost that while low-level patent trolling is thriving, the era of large patent troll victories may be waning. The chances of well-resourced tech companies like Google, if they’re willing to fight through an appeal, appear better than ever.

The content in this post was found at http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/04/85-million-patent-verdict-largest-ever-against-google-wiped-out-on-appeal/ and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.