A federal court in US has asked Apple Inc to pay $234 million to University of Wisconsin for infringing a patent on microprocessor technology developed by the varsity's researchers, including two Indian-Americans.
The jury found that Apple infringed a Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation-owned (Warf) patent claiming an invention that significantly improves the efficiency and speed of computer processing. At the end of the two-week-long trial, after the jury concluded Apple's A7, A8 and A8X system on chip designs infringed the asserted claims of the 752 patent, it awarded Warf damages of $234 million. "We believed our technology was ahead of its time," said professor Gurindar Sohi, University of Wisconsin researcher, who along with three of his then graduate students — Andreas Moshovos, Scott Breach, Terani Vijaykumar had developed the technology which was patented on their behalf by the university.
Apple said it would appeal the verdict, but declined to comment further.
WARF praised the verdict and said it was important to protect the university's inventions from unauthorised use. "This decision is great news," said WARF Managing Director Carl Gulbrandsen in a statement.
Jurors deliberated for about 3-1/2 hours before returning the verdict in the closely watched case in federal court in Madison, Wisconsin. It was the second phase of a trial that began on Oct. 5.
The jury was considering whether Apple's A7, A8 and A8X processors, found in the iPhone 5s, 6 and 6 Plus, as well as several versions of the iPad, violated the patent.
The US Patent and Trademark Office issued the patent to WARF in 1998 on behalf of UW-Madison Computer Science professor Sohi and three graduate students Moshovos, Breach, Vijaykumar.
"This is a case where the hard work of our university researchers and the integrity of patenting and licensing discoveries has prevailed," said Carl Gulbrandsen, managing director of WARF.
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