Acacia Wins $22.1 Million Patent Infringement Suit Against Apple

A federal jury in Tyler, Texas has found Apple guilty of “willfully infringing” a cellular networking patent and awarded a subsidiary of Acacia Research, a large patent licensing firm, a $22.1 million judgment, Reuters reports. The award amounts to a running royalty for Apple’s continued infringement through March 2016.

Because the patent violation was found to have been willful, presiding U.S. Magistrate Judge Nicole Mitchell has the discretion to multiply the penalties by up to three times, or $66.3 million.

The lawsuit was originally filed in January 2014 at the U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas by Acacia subsidiary, Cellular Communications Equipment, LLC. The suit accused Apple of selling numerous products that violate U.S. Patent No. 8,055,820, including the iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPad 3, iPad 4, iPad Air, iPad mini, and iPad mini 2.

The patent is for an “apparatus, system, and method for designating a buffer status reporting format based on detected pre-selected buffer conditions,” used in cellular networking. MacRumors reports that the patent was at one point held by Nokia.

Apple unsuccessfully tried to argue that the patent was invalid over the course of the week-long trial that began on September 6. The jurors eventually rejected the Cupertino company’s contention and found no clear or convincing evidence that the patent was improper.

Though Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Boost Mobile were also named defendants in the patent infringement suit, no jury verdict has been announced against the wireless carriers.

As of now, it’s unclear whether Apple will appeal the decision.