Apple wins patent trial against Pendrell subsidiary (updated)

Pendrell

20/11/2015 21:55

(Adds case background) 
    By Lisa Bose McDermott 
    MARSHALL, Texas, Nov 20 (Reuters) - A U.S. jury on Friday 
found Apple Inc  AAPL.O  did not infringe five antipiracy 
patents owned by a Pendrell Corp  PCO.O  subsidiary at trial in 
a Texas federal court. 
    The jury also found that Apple did not prove that the 
patents were invalid. No damages were awarded to Pendrell 
subsidiary ContentGuard Holdings.  
    An Apple attorney declined to comment. Samuel Baxter, an 
attorney for ContentGuard, said they are disappointed by the 
outcome and evaluating options.  
    The trial came after a jury in a separate case in the same 
court in September cleared Google Inc  GOOGL.O  of infringing 
the same five patents. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd  005930.KS  
was also cleared in that case. 
    ContentGuard sued Apple in 2013 and Google and Samsung in 
2014 alleging infringement of several antipiracy patents that 
help to restrict content to authorized users. 
    The company claimed Apple infringed by making and selling 
its popular devices, which use the iTunes and iBooks 
applications, to distribute DRM-protected songs, movies, TV 
shows and books. Apple denied any infringement and said the 
patents are invalid. 
    ContentGuard emerged from a partnership in 2000 between 
Xerox Corp and Microsoft Corp to form a digital rights 
management business, according to court papers. It is now owned 
by Kirkland, Washington-based Pendrell Corp, a publicly traded 
patent management company, and Time Warner.  
    Through its subsidiaries, Pendrell holds about 1,200 patents 
worldwide. 
 
 (Writing by Dan Levine; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli, Bernard 
Orr) 
 ((dan.levine@thomsonreuters.com; +1 415 348-4726;)) 
 
Keywords: APPLE PENDRELL/VERDICT