(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 ordered Apple late Friday to pay a running royalty to PMC, which is usually based on the amount of sales of a product or service.
Apple said they were disappointed with the verdict and planned to appeal.
“Cases like these, brought by companies that do not manufacture or sell products, stifle innovation and ultimately harm to consumers,” the email reads.
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.
PMC in Sugarland, Texas, holds infringement cases against companies such as Netflix Inc, Alphabet Inc’s Google and Amazon.com Inc.
Reporting by Derek Francis and Bhargav Acharya and additional reporting by Aakriti Bhalla in Bengaluru; Edited by Kim Coghill and Grant McCool