Apple Gets $23.6 Million Fine For Infringing Old Pager Patents

Apple might be the world’s most valuable company in the world at this point in time in terms of market capitalization, where they are way ahead of Microsoft in second position and Exxon Mobil right after that. Still, being top dog does not mean that you are exempt from doing any kind of wrong, and a jury in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas recently saw that Apple had to pay a fine of $23.6 million for infringing upon old pager patents. The fine was awarded to the rightful patent holder according to the jury.

The US jury found out that select iOS messaging features actually infringed upon pager technology that were developed in the 1990s. Of course, $23.6 million would be a whole lot of money for anyone out there, which ought to be enough to last a few generations down the road, but it is still a far cry from the $237.2 million claim that the complainant, Mobile Telecommunications Technologies (MTel), demanded for.

This particular sum was settled upon after the jury came to the conclusion that Apple had actually infringed five out of six patents which were earlier granted to SkyTel network some time in the 1990s, and these patents are actually part of MTel’s portfolio at the moment.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Apple
Tags: Legal, Patent