Google to pay SimpleAir $85 million in patent suit

When patent infringement lawsuits go to court, there can be a lot at stake. In a recent patent infringement lawsuit between Google and SimpleAir, Google has been ordered to pay the technology licensing company $85 million for using SimpleAir's technology without a license.

SimpleAir, a technology licensing company based in Plano, Texas, was founded to license the technology of their patent inventors. The company own patents to technology that allows for the transmission of data over the Internet and the delivery of wireless content and push notifications. SimpleAir is known as a non-practicing entity. 

SimpleAir originally sought $146 million in damages but has been awarded significantly less. It was determined in January that Google's Android push notifications infringed on a SimpleAir patent. Google used SimpleAir's technology to transmit data through its messaging services, Google Cloud Messaging and Google Cloud to Device Messaging. Google denied that it was infringing on this patent, claiming that it did not represent a new invention. However, SimpleAir claimed to have developed this technology about a decade in advance of it's time, but the technology, which Google used to send notifications in its Android applications, did not become widely used until the proliferation of mobile technology. 

SimpleAir's patent portfolio is licensed by other large technology companies, such as Apple. In 2012, Apple settled a patent lawsuit with SimpleAir and then entered into a confidential licensing agreement with the company. 

As this case illustrates, patent infringement cases can be a costly undertaking, especially when they are not settled out of court. It is crucial for any business to avoid infringing on patents and to protect its own patents from being infringed upon. If you're wondering how intellectual property law might affect your small business, consult an Arizona small business attorney today.

Categorised in: Uncategorized

This post was written by