(Reuters) – A federal jury in Texas has said Apple Inc. must pay approximately $ 308.5 million to Personalized Media Communications LLC (PMC) for violating a patent related to digital rights management.
The jurors did not appeal to Apple late Friday to pay a running royalty to PMC, which is usually based on the amount of sales of a product or service.
PMC, a licensing firm, originally sued Apple in 2015, alleging that the iTunes technology giant’s iTunes service infringed seven of its patents.
Apple successfully challenged PMC’s case at the U.S. Patent Office, but an appeals court reversed the ruling in March last year, paving the way for the trial.
The iPhone maker did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment, but told Bloomberg that he was disappointed with the verdict and that he would appeal.
“Cases like these, brought by companies that do not manufacture or sell products, stifle innovation and ultimately harm consumers,” Bloomberg said here.
PMC in Sugarland, Texas, holds infringement cases against companies such as Netflix Inc, Alphabet Inc’s Google and Amazon.com Inc.
The case is Personalized Media v. Apple Inc.
Reporting by Derek Francis and Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru; Edited by Kim Coghill