A court in Texas has reportedly ordered Apple, a multinational technology company, to pay over $500 million (around ?3,742 crores). This $500 million fine is related to the damages & interest for 4G patent infringements held by PanOptis, an intellectual property company.

PanOptis, the company known for licensing patents, took the technology company to court in February 2020, by raising claims that it refused to pay for its deployment of 4G LTE technologies in its watches, tablets, and smartphones.

The American technology giant, currently worth nearly $2 trillion (nearly ?1,49,70,000 crores), has decided to appeal the recent court’s ruling.  As per the reported statement made by Apple, the company is disappointed with the verdict of the jury and is planning to make an appeal.

According to the court filing, the complainant has negotiated repeatedly with Apple to reach an agreement regarding a FRAND license in its patent portfolios, which the technology giant has allegedly been infringing. FRAND, short for the term ‘fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory’, is the standard for technology use for the IT industry. The negotiations between Apple and the complainant were not successful as the company reportedly refused to pay its FRAND royalty to the license of the complainant.

Apple has argued to these allegations by stating that the patents were invalid, as per the legal publications. The recent case is among the other patent suits filed by licensing firms, which hold rights to various technologies. These patent suits are filed typically in various states where the jurors are observed to be more inclined to rule against the Silicon Valley giants.

The Texas court had ruled against the technology company two times in the past, ordering it to pay millions of dollars to another company that specializes in patent litigation, VirnetX.

For the record, PanOptis manages the patents of its clients on its website, enabling them to focus on growth strategies and innovations.

Source credit:

https://gadgets.ndtv.com/telecom/news/apple-must-pay-500-million-over-panoptis-4g-patent-violations-us-court-rules-2278714