Ruling overturned!
Apple has been the target of a long list of lawsuits, but today it has won a court ruling that throws out a $625.5 million Mirror Worlds patent infringement verdict. According to a Bloomberg report, a federal court in Texas ruled in favour of Apple and also noted that the damages were too high.
Mirror Worlds, founded by Yale University computer-science Professor David Gelernter, had earlier alleged Apple's Cover Flow graphical browsing system infringed its patents.
The jury in last October thought that Apple was infringing on the three patents and awarded damages of $208.5 million for each patent. The October jury ruling was fought with an emergency motion to stay. Apple quickly challenged the validity of the patents and said the damages amounted to "triple dipping" from Mirror Worlds.
District Judge Leonard Davis noted that the October jury decision might have been subjective to a faulty picture painted by the company. Bloomberg quoted him as saying: "Mirror Worlds may have painted an appealing picture for the jury, but it failed to lay a solid foundation sufficient to support important elements it was required to establish under the law."
According to the report, an Apple representative declined to comment, and legal representatives for Mirror Worlds did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
However, Apple Insider noted that the Cover Flow interface was originally developed by Steel Skies, which was later purchased by Apple in 2006.
