LONGVIEW, Texas – Name partner Wesley Hill of Ward, Smith & Hill, PLLC, of Longview recently helped firm client Cellular Communications Equipment, LLC, win a $22 million patent infringement verdict against iPhone manufacturer Apple Inc.
The verdict was handed down Sept. 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Tyler. The jury before Magistrate Judge K. Nicole Mitchell found that Apple infringed a wireless communications patent (U.S. Patent No. 8,055,820) owned by Cellular Communications. Jurors also found that Apple’s infringement was willful, which could enable the trial court to triple the total damages award under federal law.
The seven-day trial revealed how Apple knowingly infringed the patent in its iPhones and iPads. The contested patent covers technology that manages the resources used to send data over communications networks and optimizes communications efficiency. Apple previously challenged the patent’s validity, but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board ruled that the company had not demonstrated a reasonable likelihood that the patent would not be found valid.
Mr. Hill served as co-counsel alongside attorneys from Dallas’ Caldwell Cassady & Curry and Fort Worth’s Nelson Bumgardner PC.
“The jury’s decision in favor of Cellular Communications Equipment was based on a careful of review of the facts, which clearly demonstrated that Apple wrongly relied on our client’s patented technology without permission and with no license to do so,” says Mr. Hill. “All of the attorneys on our team worked long and hard to present a true picture of exactly what happened and how our client’s intellectual property was infringed.”
Longview, Texas-based Ward, Smith & Hill, PLLC, has tried more than 350 cases to verdict, earning a national reputation in high-stakes claims involving complex commercial litigation, intellectual property law, oil and gas matters, bad faith insurance claims, and serious personal injury claims. The firm frequently assists lawyers nationwide in complex cases before Texas juries. To learn more about the firm, visit https://wsfirm.com.
