Apple dropped its challenge of an US$19 million patent verdict lost to OPTi Inc. a day before a court was to hear the appeal, reports “Bloomberg” (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-08/apple-tesla-moneygram-leisure-world-intellectual-property.html?cmpid=yhoo).
OPTi, which reported $3.25 million in sales for the three months ended Sept. 30, jumped 15 percent in over-the-counter trading after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington granted the companies’ joint motion to dismiss the appeal, the article adds. According to the case docket, the reason behind the request for dismissal wasn’t made public.
On Jan. 16, 2007, Opti announced that it had filed a complaint against Apple, in the Eastern District of Texas, for infringement of its U.S. patents covering its “pre-snoop” technology. The complaint alleged that Apple infringed its patents by making, selling, and offering for sale various products based on and incorporating “Predictive Snooping” technology.
In the 2009 verdict, jurors found that Apple willfully infringed the contested patent. The jury also rejected Apple’s contentions that the patent should be declared invalid. The $19 million verdict amount was awarded as fair and reasonable compensation to Opti for Apple’s willful patent violation, according to the verdict form.