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Samsung has been ordered to pay $15.7 million (£10.2m) in damages after being found guilty of Bluetooth patent infringement.
The decision to declare Samsung liable for reparations payments to Rembrandt Wireless Technologies came from a Harrison County, USA, federal jury last Friday (via Marshall News Messenger).
The jury took less than an hour to vote in favour of Rembrandt, finding Samsung guilty of infringing on two separate patents.
Rembrandt Wireless Technologies is a patent investment company, so it’s likely no stranger to patent litigation.
Interestingly, Rembrandt initially wanted $31.9 million in royalty repayments from Samsung, but this was later reduced to the $15.7m sum.
Samsung’s attorney, Jesse Jenner, said: “Even though we think Samsung owes nothing, I have to address damages because Rembrandt wants $30 million.”
“[Approximately] 24,000 companies believe Bluetooth technology should be shared for free. Obviously, Rembrandt is not a part of that, and they’re taking advantage of that.”
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The patents specifically related to a ‘system and method of communication using at least two modulation methods,’ which were allegedly infringed by Samsung selling devices that used enhanced data rate Bluetooth.
Rembrandt’s Attorney, Demetrios Anaipakos, said: “It’s not easy to file a patent case against the biggest electronics company in the world.”
