Patent holding company wins $308.5 million judgement against Apple, coming for Google and Amazon next

Apple has lost a court case against patent-holding company Personalized Media Communications LLC (PMC) for the DRM used in iTunes, reports Reuters.

The Texas federal court ruled Apple owes PMC $308.5 million-plus an ongoing royalty for infringed seven of its patents.

The case dates to 2015 when PMC first sued Apple. Then Apple won the case, but their victory has now been overturned on appeal.

“The importance of PMC’s inventions is evidenced through the success of our licensing program,” said Boyd Lemna, a Senior Advisor to PMC, in 2019. “Our preference is to negotiate our licenses directly with our licensees, but we also understand that in the current licensing environment, the continued success of our program rests upon clearly demonstrating that PMC’s patents are enforceable and that PMC is serious about enforcing them.”

Apple expressed disappointment and said they would appeal.

“Cases like this, brought by companies that don’t make or sell any products, stifle innovation and ultimately harm consumers,” it said in a statement.

PMC is however already moving on and already has pending infringement cases against Netflix, Google and Amazon.

via Winfuture