A team of four inventors, including two Indian engineers, won a case against tech giant Apple Inc. for using their patent technology in its products without permission.
The India-born engineers are professor Gurindar Sohi and Terani Vijaykumar, who moved to US after completing their graduation from Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani (Rajasthan).
The lawsuit was brought in January 2014 by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), the licensing arm of University of Wisconsin. It complained against Apple Inc. for using their patent without permission to “enhance efficiency and performance” of its signature products.
The lawsuit filed by WARF said that Mr. Sohi led the lab in University of Wisconsin-Madison, that developed a 1998 patent to enhance efficiency in computer processors.
The jury found out that Apple illegally used the patent’s technology in its processors to enhance the performance of some of its iPhones and iPads.
The university has sought around $862.4 million in damages, but the jury has yet to rule on the sum to be awarded. Apple Inc., in its defense said in the court that the patent was invalid and that there was no infringement.
Incidentally, Apple was sued again last month by the same group for infringement on its technology patent and using it in its more recent processors. The case is still pending.