Apple found guilty of patent infringement

Might have to pay up to $862 million in damages to University of Wisconsin

A jury in Madison, Wisconsin, on Tuesday found Apple guilty of infringing on the University of Wisconsin’s intellectual rights.
 
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), the university’s legal wing, had sued Apple last year for incorporating patented computer micro-architecture into the A7, A8 and A8X system-on-chip designs, components used in the 2013 and 2014 iPhone and iPad line-up, a report on appleinsider.com said.
 
According to Reuters reports, Apple could be forced to pay up to $862 million in damages. The company had argued the patent in question was invalid. The jury, however, ruled the patent was valid. Apple had also approached the US Patent and Trademark Office to review the patent’s validity, but the agency had in April rejected the bid.

   
According to macrumors.com, the patent titled ‘Table-based data speculation circuit for parallel processing computer’, was granted in 1998 and covers a method for improving processor efficiency. Several current and former University of Wisconsin researchers are listed as inventors in the patent.
 
Now that Apple’s role in the infringement has been decided, the next step will involve the weighing of damages and whether Apple’s infringement was intentional.