Apple paid another patent troll $ 24.9 million

Recently it became known that Apple agreed to pay $ 24.9 million on the claim of the patent troll Marathon Patent Group, which will divide the profits between the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and New York Technical University.

Against the background of medium-sized payments in patent trolls cases, in this case Apple paid a substantial amount. Especially against the background of changes in legislation that allows companies to challenge patents issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office in litigation. Nevertheless, this trial once again proves that the era of patent trolls is not over yet.
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The lawsuit used a patent of 7,177,798, which describes a method of processing natural speech as a tool for entering information, registered in 2000 by doctors of science Cheng Hsu and Viha Bonjing. At the time of patent registration, Cheng Hsu worked at RPI, and Vira Bonting was a candidate for doctor.

The patent mentions a data processing language using databases filled with keywords and other similar content. The plaintiffs accused Apple of violating the terms of using the patented technology.

“Apple proposes using Siri in the manner indicated in the patent. Moreover, there are several separate pages on the company's website that suggest using Siri with natural human requests, ”said representatives of the Marathon Patent Group.

Under the agreement, Apple received a license for the patent, as well as a guarantee from the original patent owner, Dynamic Advances, which is part of the Marathon Patent Group, that there will be no new lawsuits for the next three years. Half of the funds paid by Apple will go to the RPI account, which was also confirmed by representatives of the Marathon Patent Group.

Apple’s decision to pay $ 24.9 million could definitely provoke Dynamic Advances to file new lawsuits against other players in the market who use voice assistants. One of the first in the list can be Google with Google Now Assistant.