Apple wins reversal of University of Wisconsin patent loss

(Reuters) — Apple Inc. persuaded a federal appeals court on Friday to throw out a $234 million damages award in favor of the University of Wisconsin's patent licensing arm for infringing the school's patent on computer processing technology.

The U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., said no reasonable juror could have found that Apple's processors infringed the patent, based on evidence presented during the liability phase of the 2015 trial.

It said Apple deserved judgment as a matter of law in the case brought by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, known as WARF.

Lawyers for Apple and WARF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

WARF had sued Apple in 2014, contending that processors fought in Apple's iPhone 5s, 6 and 6 Plus infringed a patent describing a means to improve processor performance by predicting instructions that uses of devices will give.

About $213 million of the verdict had been based on a finding that Apple was vicariously liable for Apple-branded products manufactured by Samsung Electronics Co.

In July 2017, U.S. District Judge William Conley in Madison, Wisconsin, ordered Apple to pay another $272 million of damages, for a total of $506 million, based on its continued infringement through the Dec. 2016 expiration of WARF's patent.