A federal jury in Texas has reportedly asked Apple to pay damages worth 532.9 million dollars to Smartflash for infringing three patents owned by it.
The jury concluded that Apple used Smartflash's patents in its iTunes software without permission, rejecting Apple's claims that the patents were invalid. The patents pertained to digital rights management (DRM), data storage, and payment systems, reported The Verge.
The Texas-based patent licensing company had sought damages totaling 852 million dollars but Apple's lawyers termed them "excessive." The Cupertino-based company said the patents were only worth 4.5 million dollars.
Smartflash also argued that Apple "intentionally" used the patents without permission because the company's founder, Patrick Racz, presented the technology more than ten years ago to Augustin Farrugia, who later became Apple's director of security.
Meanwhile, Apple has said that it will appeal Tuesday's decision.
Kristin Huguet, an Apple spokeswoman, said in a statement that Smartflash made no products, had no employees, created no jobs, had no U.S. presence, and was exploiting Apple's patent system to seek royalties for technology invented by the iPhone maker.
