Conversant Wireless Licensing S.A R.L. v. LG ELECTRONICS, INC. et al DC

Last week, District Judge Nathanael M. Cousins of the Northern District of California dealt Conversant Wireless Licensing S.à.r.l. (f/k/a Core Wireless Licensing S.a.r.l.) another blow in its long-running litigation campaign over former Nokia patents. An August 2018 Federal Circuit opinion upset an earlier jury verdict and judgment that Apple had infringed two Conversant patents, for which the jury had awarded $7.3M in damages. The appeals court reversed the jury’s finding of infringement as to one patent and vacated the trial court’s determination that the other patent was not unenforceable due to a failure to disclose to a related standard-setting body. On remand, Judge Cousins granted the motion for unenforceability, entering judgment in Apple’s favor. Meanwhile, in Texas, Conversant filed a new case against LG Electronics (LGE) (2:19-cv-00142) over patents at the heart of a recent win before a jury there, the new complaint targeting subsequently released LGE products.

A Texas jury has returned a new damages verdict in litigation brought by Conversant Wireless Licensing S.à.r.l. (f/k/a Core Wireless Licensing S.a.r.l.) against LG Electronics (LGE) (2:14-cv-00912). In September 2016, another jury issued a verdict of infringement in the case’s first trial against LGE, but the court granted LGE a new trial on damages in September 2018 due to a series of errors made by the plaintiff’s damages expert. The resulting verdict in that second trial included a damages award of $3.5M.

The Federal Circuit has upheld a victory for Apple in a lawsuit brought by Luxembourg-based NPE Core Wireless Licensing S.a.r.l. (2015-2037). In an opinion issued on April 14, the court affirmed District Judge Rodney Gilstrap’s denial of the NPE’s motions for judgment as a matter of law and for a new trial, which followed a Texas jury’s March 2015 verdict that the company’s mobile devices did not infringe five wireless communications patents (6,266,321; 6,978,143; 7,383,022; 7,599,664; 7,804,850).

A Texas jury has found that LG Electronics (LGE) willfully infringed two wireless communication patents (6,633,536; 7,804,850) through its Android smartphones (2:14-cv-00912). In a verdict handed down on September 16, the jury awarded plaintiff Core Wireless Licensing S.a.r.l. $2.3M in damages. This decision follows a recent victory for LGE in the same litigation campaign; last month, District Judge Rodney Gilstrap granted a new trial on damages in the second of two lawsuits brought by Core Wireless against the company. For more information on that order, see “LG Electronics Wins New Damages Trial in $3.5M Core Wireless Case” (August 2016).