Apple was ordered to pay $ 309 Million for Inntinging DRM Patent

A federal jury in Texas has ordered Apple to pay about $ 308.5 million to a local licensing company for infringing a patent related to digital rights regulation, reports Bloomberg.

After a five-day lawsuit, jurors said Friday that Apple must pay running loyalty fees to Texas-based Personal Media Communications (PMC). Running loyalty is usually based on the level of sales of a product or service.

PMC first sued Apple in 2015 for allegedly infringing seven of its patents. As part of the lawsuit, the company said Apple violated its patent with technology including FairPlay, which is used to distribute encrypted content through the company’s iTunes, App Store, and Apple Music apps.

Apple successfully defended the PMC case at the U.S. patent office, but an appellate court overturned that decision in March 2020, opening the way for a lawsuit to proceed.

Apple said Bloomberg he was disappointed with Friday’s ruling and would appeal the decision.

“Issues like this, taken by companies that do not make or sell any products, will hinder innovation and ultimately harm consumers,” the company said in a statement. email statement.

PMC is a non-executive entity that holds a patent portfolio and generates revenue through patent law. When companies like this use hardware-based legal techniques to enforce patent rights far beyond the true value of the patent, they are often referred to as patent trolls.

The Sugarland-based company has bankruptcy cases pending against several other tech companies including Netflix, Google, and Amazon.