More Jury Trials Looming, Headwater Research Secures Verdict Against Verizon Wireless, Receives PTAB Blow to Prior Samsung Verdict

On Wednesday of this past week, an Eastern District of Texas jury returned a verdict for Headwater Research LLC, awarding the plaintiff a $175M lump sum from Verizon (Verizon Wireless) for the infringement of two claims, one from each of two patents-in-suit. No willfulness was found. That same day, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) canceled three of the six patent claims that an earlier East Texas jury had found infringed by Samsung in a verdict that awarded Headwater Research $278.8M in damages, undifferentiated across the two patents tried there. Meanwhile, prep for coming trials, currently planned for August, against first Deutsche Telekom (Sprint, T-Mobile) and then AT&T (AT&T Mobility) continues, including resolution of another law firm disqualification motion, this one rejected.