Apple ordered to pay huge damages over patent dispute

PanARMENIAN.Net - A U.S. jury has ordered technology giant Apple to pay more than $234m in damages for patent infringement, BBC News reports.

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the patent licensing arm of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the verdict was important to guard its inventions from unauthorised use.

The jury had earlier decided that Apple incorporated patented microchip technology into some iPhones and iPads without permission.

Apple said it would appeal, declining to comment further.

The jury set the amount - about $165m less than the foundation had claimed - after about three hours of deliberations.

University of Wisconsin-Madison computer sciences professor Gurindar Sohi, one of the inventors of the microchip technology - designed to boost the performance of computer processors - was in the federal court in Madison, Wisconsin, for the decision.

"For Dr Sohi, I hope you felt that your invention was vindicated,'' US District Judge William Conley said.

The case relates to use of the technology in the iPhone 5s, 6 and 6 Plus - but an additional lawsuit making the same claim against Apple's newest models, the 6S and 6S Plus, has also been filed.