Apple Shells Out $25 Million to Settle Siri Lawsuit

Apple today settled a long-running lawsuit with Dynamic Advances and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute over accusations Apple's Siri voice-based personal assistant violated a 2007 patent owned by Rensselaer and licensed exclusively to Dallas company Dynamic Advances, reports the Albany Business Review.

Apple will pay a total of $24.9 million to Dynamic Advances' parent company Marathon Patent Group. $5 million will be paid after the lawsuit is dropped with the rest of the money to follow later. Apple will be granted a patent license to use the technology and under the terms of the settlement, will not be sued again for a three-year period.

Dynamic Advances will pay approximately 50 percent of the money received from Apple to Rensselaer, but Rensselaer has not agreed to the royalty rate proposed in the settlement.

Dynamic Advances expects to pay 50 percent of that money to Rensselaer, legal counsel and the predecessor exclusive licensee of the patents in suit, according to regulatory filings.

Rensselaer has not, however, agreed to the royalty rate proposed in the settlement, according to a document filed by Marathon Patent Group

Had the case not been settled out of court, it would have gone to trial next month. The lawsuit dates back to 2012 and covers U.S. patent No. 7177798 B2, "Natural language interface using constrained intermediate dictionary of results."

Tag: Siri Guide

Top Rated Comments

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garirry

43 months ago

Before anyone says anything, I'd like you to remind you that Apple paying $25M for a lawsuit is like me paying a $40 fine for bad parking.

Rating: 8 Votes

jimbobb24

43 months ago

Software patents need to be rewritten to be a max of 7 years and only 3 years without a marketed product. This stuff is just ridiculous and a drag. Copyrights are the right way to handle code, not patents.

Rating: 6 Votes

oneMadRssn

43 months ago

Why should an inventor have patent rights taken away if they fail to market a product within 3 years? What if the idea is really ahead of its time and the market isn't there for it for 10 years or 15 years?

Also, copyrights aren't for functional ideas, they are for artistic expression. Further, they last much much much longer than patents do.

Um... what? Can someone [with knowledge of this] please explain?

I think this means Apple licensed the patent for a term of 3 years. After the 3 year term expires, they either have to renegotiate another license or design around the patent so that their product no longer infringes.

Rating: 4 Votes

neuropsychguy

43 months ago

Before anyone says anything, I'd like you to remind you that Apple paying $25M for a lawsuit is like me paying a $40 fine for bad parking.

So what you're saying is you have a net worth of about $880,000.

Rating: 3 Votes

Gasu E.

43 months ago

While everyone has this mind set about Apple they are CONSTANTLY paying out millions eventually they will feel it.

And they are constantly making BILLIONS in profits. As a percentage of their profits, this is just a minor cost of doing business. So why would they ever feel it?

Rating: 3 Votes

2010mini

43 months ago

You mean Apple stole Siri? Wow! They are just like the government.

Actually Apple BOUGHT the company that invented Siri

Rating: 2 Votes

Jimmy Bubbles

43 months ago

You mean Apple stole Siri? Wow! They are just like the government.

Apple actually purchased Siri man. Here's one of the many articles on it: http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-buys-siri-a-mobile-assistant-app-as-war-with-google-heats-up-2010-4?op=1

Rating: 1 Votes

Kabeyun

43 months ago

Apple will be granted a patent license to use the technology and under the terms of the settlement, will not be sued again for a three-year period.

Um... what? Can someone [with knowledge of this] please explain?

Rating: 1 Votes

kdarling

42 months ago

Newegg fights these patent trolls. So why do Apple appease them?
Is it the cost of patent troll appeasment is a lot less than going to trial? Or is there another reason?

Apple almost always puts up a fight at first.

However, Apple does best when a trial is held in their home state of California. Outside of there, the outcome is much less certain, especially if the patent(s) are going to seem strong to a lay jury.

In this case, the trial was to be held in Northern New York, about where Rensselaer is located. That's a big home town advantage for the patent holders.

Besides, $24.9 million to keep using Siri for three years at least, seems like a bargain compared to, say, the $600+ million payment Apple recently got hit with in Texas for Facetime etc.

Rating: 1 Votes