By Blake Brittain
(Reuters) -A federal court in Marshall, Texas, said on Wednesday that U.S. telecom company Verizon Wireless must pay $175 million in damages for violating an inventor’s patent rights related to wireless communications technology.
The jury’s decision in favor of Headwater Research comes just months after the firm secured a $278 million verdict in a separate patent dispute against Samsung over wireless technology, also in the same Marshall, Texas, federal court.
Spokespeople for Verizon and attorneys for Headwater did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday’s verdict.
Tyler, Texas-based Headwater was founded by scientist and inventor Gregory Raleigh. Headwater said in its complaint in 2023 that its patented technology allows wireless devices to “reduce data usage and network congestion, extend battery life by decreasing power consumption, and enable users to stay connected.”
Headwater said it shared information about its technology with Verizon under a non-disclosure agreement between 2009 and 2011. The complaint said that Verizon’s mobile phones, tablets and cellular networks infringed Headwater’s patents.
Verizon denied the allegations and argued that the patents were invalid.
(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
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