Crabby Apple
Apple is getting scrappy after being ordered by a judge to pay a relatively measly $21.7 million in damages to IC manufacturer, OPTi inc, after losing a legal battle over a patent.
Despite having some $30 billion in cash, Apple has filed a motion to appeal the judgment handed down by Magistrate Judge Charles Everingham, who found the firm guilty of infringement on US Patent 6,405,291,'Predictive snooping of cache memory for master-initiated accesses.'
Proceedings against Apple by OPTi kicked off back in 2007, with Opti claiming Apple was using its predictive snooping of cache memory technology to speed up PCI bus data transfers and get constant transfer rates.
In response, Apple said the technology, which it uses in its Mac controller chips, was "obvious" and that OPTi's patent should be made invalid.
But a jury obviously felt Apple had a bad case of sour grapes and earlier this year awarded Opti with an initial award of $19 million in "reasonable royalties." It also ruled OPTi's patent was not invalid due to obviousness.
Feeling vindicated and perhaps a little cocky, OPTi decided it would then ask the court for yet another $12.7 million in "enhanced damages."
This lead Apple to indignantly file several motions asking for a judgment as a matter of law, a new trial regarding the patent's validity, Apple's willfulness of infringement and a rethink about the monetary penalty.
