Over the past couple weeks, a jury trial was held in Tyler, Texas on Ericsson’s November 2010 complaint that wireless equipment makers D-Link Corp., Belkin International, Netgear, Acer, Gateway, Dell, and Toshiba infringe several Ericsson patents related to the IEEE 802.11 wireless networking standard and 802.11-compliant equipment (case no. 6:10-cv-00473). Yesterday, the jury returned its verdict, finding that the defendants infringe the claims of several patents and awarding damages to Ericsson.
[Ericsson v D-Link Jury Verdict]
The jury awarded approximately $8 million in total damages to compensate Ericsson for the defendants’ past infringement, apportioned as follows:
- D-Link: $435,000
- Netgear: $3,555,000
- Acer/Gateway: $1,170,000
- Dell: $1,920,000
- Toshiba: $2,445,000
- Belkin: $600,000
Note that the jury verdict really only addressed infringement, validity, and past damages issues. We will keep an eye on the post-trial developments in this case to see if any particularly interesting standard-essential patent issues (injunctive relief, RAND royalty limitations, etc.) arise.