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Apple Inc. is challenging a jury verdict last week in which the computer maker was ordered to pay as much as $625.5 million €456 million ₩702 billion to Mirror Worlds LLC for infringing patents related to how documents are displayed digitally.
Apple asked U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis for an emergency stay of the Oct. 1 verdict, saying there are outstanding issues on two of the three patents. Apple said patent owner Mirror Worlds would also be “triple dipping” if it were able to collect $208.5 million on each of the patents.
Closely held Mirror Worlds, founded by Yale University computer-science Professor David Gelernter, sued in 2008, claiming Apple’s iPod music device, iPhone and Mac computers infringed three patents for a way documents are displayed on a computer screen. Apple challenged the validity of the patents and whether they were infringed, according to court records. Some claims were thrown out before the case went to the jury.
Judge Davis has asked the lawyers to submit legal arguments on the damages awarded by the federal jury in Tyler, Texas, according to the Apple filing.
The arguments are needed “in light of counsel for Mirror Worlds’ erroneous and objectionable suggestion that, among other things, damages should be cumulative while at the same time suggesting that Mirror Worlds was not ‘triple-dipping,’” Cupertino, California-based Apple said.
Lowering the Damages
Davis also is considering Apple’s request, filed before the verdict, to rule the company doesn’t infringe two of the patents. The judge said that if he granted that request, he’d strike the amount of damages attributed to those two patents.
Mirror Worlds Technologies Inc. was founded in New Haven, Connecticut by Gelernter, who wrote “Mirror Worlds: or the Day Software Puts the Universe in a Shoebox” and “Drawing Life: Surviving the Unabomber” about his recovery from a bomb sent by Theodore Kaczynski in 1993 that damaged his right hand and eye.
Mirror Worlds LLC, the legal entity that filed the complaint, is incorporated in Tyler, Texas, according to the complaint. Lawyers for the company declined to comment Oct. 1 when asked about the verdict and the amount of damages.
Apple had $45.8 billion in cash and securities as of June 26. Officials with Apple didn’t return messages seeking additional information.
The case is Mirror Worlds LLC v. Apple Inc., 08cv88, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (Tyler).