(Reuters) – A Texas federal jury has said Apple Inc. must pay about $ 308.5 million to Personalized Media Communications LLC (PMC) for infringing a patent associated with digital rights management.
The jury did not ask Apple until Friday to pay a current fee to PMC, which is generally based on the value of sales of a product or service.
PMC, a licensing firm, initially sued Apple in 2015, claiming that the tech giant’s iTunes service infringed seven of its patents.
Apple has successfully challenged the PMC case in the US patent office, but an appellate court in March last year overturned the decision, paving the way for the lawsuit.
The iPhone maker did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment, but told Bloomberg it was disappointed with the decision and would appeal.
“Cases like this, brought by companies that don’t produce or sell products, stifle innovation and ultimately harm consumers,” Apple was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.
The Sugarland, Texas-based PMC has infringed lawsuits against some companies, including Netflix Inc., Google Alphabet Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.
The case is Personalized Media v. Apple Inc.
Reporting of Derek Francis and Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru; Montage by Kim Coghill