Apple ordered patent troll Optis to pay $52 million despite threats to leave the UK market

Apple is ordered to pay Optis $52 million to use standard-based 4G patents on both iPhones and Cellular iPads. You also need to pay interest and bring in the total for over $700 million.

Despite the unconvincing attempts by Apple’s lawyers, the court is still unconvincing to argue that if the company is forced to pay, it could withdraw the iPhone from its UK sale…

Optis is a carefully known patent assertion entity, and a carefully known patent troll. These companies will not invent anything, but instead they will acquire the patent with the specific intent to file a lawsuit against the companies they allegedly infringe.

In this case, Optis purchased many of what is known as standard essentials. This means that it is impossible to create an LTE device without incorporating patented technology.

This means that the license must be sold under Frand terms: fair, reasonable, non-discriminatory. The question with this, however, is that there is no legal definition of what Frand means, and therefore, when the patent owner considers his terms are Frand and the licensee is not, it brings a court battle.

Optis won a lawsuit against Apple in the US (although the award was subsequently cut), in the UK. However, Optis argued that the total of $56 million awarded in the UK was not sufficient and should be based on global use, not just British products.

Apple’s lawyers said they may choose to withdraw from the UK market if that happens.

Apple’s position should be able to actually look back on the terms and decide whether it is right to accept them commercially or leave the UK market. There may be conditions set by courts that are not commercially acceptable.

Sadly, for Apple, the judges weren’t taken more seriously than I did, and Reuters The court has accepted arguments from Optis and reported that it awarded $522 million to the global license.

The Court of Appeals said in a partially informal written ruling that for the period from 2013 to 2027, Apple should pay $505 million without interest. The lump sum is related to the global license to use Optis patents (…)

An Apple spokesperson said he was “disappointed by this decision and plans to appeal.”

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Without it as much as Optic’s business model, it was inevitable that Apple would have to pay somewhere in this stadium, whether it was awarded in an individual country or not. Troll owns Tech patents that Apple must use.

What is urgently needed is global patent reform.

• Stop companies claiming patents for obvious or overly spreading “inventions”
• Provide legally binding guidance on what Fland terminology means.
• Prohibits the practice of purchasing patents for the specific purpose of suing companies for use

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Photo by Conny Schneider from Unsplash