Jury finds Apple did not infringe on 'patent troll' WiLAN's wireless tech

A Texas jury on Wednesday found Apple, the lone holdout in a patent infringement case asserted by WiLAN, to not have infringed on a wireless technology property owned by the patent holdings company, capping off a two-year trial.

WiLAN first brought its case against Apple and a number of other large tech firms in 2011, claiming infringement of U.S Patents No. RE37,802 and No. 5,282,222 relating cellular wireless technologies.

As noted by AllThingsD, aside from Apple, all defendants signed license and settlement agreements to resolve the dispute, including Alcatel-Lucent, Dell, Hewlett Packard and HTC, among others.

With Apple being the only company standing, WiLAN proceeded with a jury trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Tyler, which has a history of siding with plaintiffs in patent cases.

Just over one week after WiLAN's trial against Apple began on Oct. 15, the jury found no infringement and invalidated two claims from the '802 patent. WiLAN was seeking $248 million in damages.

"WiLAN is disappointed with the jury's decision and is currently reviewing its options with trial counsel, McKool Smith," WiLAN said in a litigation update posted to its website. "WiLAN does not believe previous license agreements signed related to the patents are negatively impacted by this decision."

WiLAN was founded in 1992 as a company rooted in developing and commercializing wireless technology. In 2006, after "realizing the value that its intellectual property brought to industry," the firm transformed into a patent holdings entity and holds a large number of properties which are used in litigation against big-name corporations.

In 2007, Wi-LAN sued Apple over its use of Wi-Fi in certain product. The so-called "patent troll" again brought claims against Apple in 2010, claiming infringement of patented Bluetooth technology.