WiLan is an intellectual property licensing company , commonly known as a Âpatent trollÂ. Whereby they make their money through registering patents and then suing companies who then infringe upon those patents.
WiLan holds over 10,000 patents, of which mostly relate to wireless technology. Hence, this is not the first court battle between these two companies. In October 2013 WiLan failed to successfully sue Apple for the use of wireless networking technology.
However, the tables have now turned and Apple Inc. were hit this month with a hefty $145 million debt to be paid to WiLan for damages after the jury in the U.S. District Court of California found them guilty of infringement.
The jury overall concluded that Apple had infringed upon WiLanÂs voice-over LTE technology by infringing not one but two of WiLanÂs patents in its iPhone 6 and 7 devices.
The first infringement relates to the method and apparatus used to request protocols in their wireless communications system. The second infringement involves adaptive call admission control in wireless communication systems within a few of AppleÂs products.
The allegations which WiLanÂs had used against Apple were in relation to LTE technology which inevitably violated WiLanÂs patent rights and were also found to have breached 35 U.S. Code Section 271.
It is also likely that WiLan will appear in Court again as Apple plans to launch an appeal against the juryÂs ruling as they reject the claims that they were infringing WiLanÂs patent rights.
