APPLE HAS BEEN ORDERED to hand over $532.9m in damages after a US judge ruled that its iTunes software infringed on three patents owned by licensing outfit Smartflash.
Smartflash claimed that Apple infringed three patentsrelated to 'data storage and managing access through payment systems' in iTunes, iAd and the Mac App Store, citing the patents' use in apps including Game Circus LLC's Coin Dozer and 4 Pics 1 Movie.
The little-known firm argued that Apple had intentionally infringed on the patents, in part because one of its executives had been given a briefing on the technology more than a decade ago.
Apple had argued that the infringed features weren’t the reason people bought iPhones, but the court ruled in favour of Smartflash on Tuesday. The judge chose not to award the entire $852m the software maker was seeking, but ordered Apple to hand over $523.9m in damages.
Apple wasn't too pleased about the ruling, having said previously that the royalty demands were "excessive and unsupportable" and that the patents in question were worth no more than $4.5m.
An Apple spokesperson said in a statement given to Bloomberg: “Smartflash makes no products, has no employees, creates no jobs, has no US presence, and is exploiting our patent system to seek royalties for technology Apple invented.
"We refused to pay off this company for the ideas our employees spent years innovating, and unfortunately we have been left with no choice but to take this fight up through the court system."
Apple said that it will appeal against the ruling.
Smartflash isn’t just going after Apple, and is reportedly planning to take on Korean smartphone manufacturer Samsung.
Google and Amazon have been slapped with similar lawsuits over the same technology, but those cases have not yet concluded.
Originally written by Carly Page
