Intellectual Property
May 30, 2015
Apple wins patent case a week before jury selection
Apple Inc. has secured a defense win against patent holder Unwired Planet LLC a week before the litigants were scheduled to select a jury for a trial.
Daily Journal Staff Writer
Apple Inc. has secured a defense win against patent holder Unwired Planet LLC a week
before the litigants were scheduled to select a jury for a trial.
Unwired Planet, formerly known as Openwave Systems Inc., had asserted four patents
against the Cupertino-based iPhone maker related to mobile communication services.
U.S. District Judge Vince G. Chhabria in San Francisco on Tuesday found Apple's push
notification system, Siri iPhone feature and App Store did not infringe three asserted
patents.
The federal judge also determined that Apple did not commit contributory and induced
infringement on the fourth patent, which covers mobile location technology, but allowed
Unwired Planet to pursue its claim for direct infringement.
Unwired Planet has stated it will waive its remaining direct infringement claim because
any damages obtained from Apple would be minimal.
The litigants have jointly asked Chhabria to enter final judgment of the other three
non-infringed patents so that Unwired Planet may pursue an appeal. Unwired Planet LLC v. Apple Inc., 13-CV4134 (N.D. Cal., filed Sept. 6, 2013).
Unwired Planet said in a statement that the summary judgment order illustrates the
"uncertain and adverse climate in the U.S." for patent holders.
"At some point, we believe the pendulum will ultimately swing back in favor of a strong
patent system for many important systemic, national policy reasons," a company statement
said. "In the meanwhile, this result underscores one of the reasons why we moved our
primary enforcement focus to Europe in the beginning of 2014."
The result marks a win for Apple's team at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and partners
H. Mark Lyon, Y. Ernest Shin and Stuart M. Rosenberg. Unwired Planet was represented
by McKool Smith PC.
The judgment comes as Unwired Planet is undergoing a transitional phase. The company
announced a net loss of $9.6 million in its last fiscal quarter ending March 31.
Earlier this month, Unwired Planet also announced that two of their key intellectual
property strategists, Daniel Mendez and Timothy M. Robbins, would resign in July.
Next month, Unwired Planet will bring in Boris Teksler, the former head of patent
licensing and strategy at Apple and a former licensing executive at Hewlett-Packard
Co., as its new CEO. Teksler is currently serving as a senior executive vice president
at Technicolor SA.
href="mailto:kevin_lee@dailyjournal.com">kevin_lee@dailyjournal.com
<!-- Apple wins patent case a week before jury selection -->
Kevin Lee
kevin_lee@dailyjournal.com
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