Apple Won't Have to Pay $309M After Judge Accuses Patent Troll of Abusing System to Fleece Tech Companies

Apple today scored a victory in an ongoing patent dispute with Personalized Media Communications (PMC), with the judge overseeing the case tossing out the $308.5 million verdict that Personalized Media Communications won in March, reports Bloomberg.

PMClogonewer
Apple was a victim of PMC's plan to milk the tech industry for high royalties on old ideas, U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap said when delivering the verdict. The judge decided that PMC's patent for digital rights management is unenforceable because the company delayed its application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in an attempt to get more money.

PMC filed hundreds patent applications in the 1980s and 1990s, but no patents were awarded until 2010. The company took advantage of a loophole that allowed for an indefinite application process and then a patent valid for 17 years. This was addressed in 1995, but didn't apply to the patents used against Apple because they were filed earlier.

PMC delayed receiving its patents until after the technology in the patent had already been adopted, letting it make more money from tech companies.

Internal documentation from PMC suggested the company had thought that Apple would be a "natural candidate" to target with delayed patents, along with Intel, IBM, and Microsoft.

PMC won a $308.5 million verdict against Apple in March after a jury said that Apple infringed on DRM patents with its FairPlay technology that is used to distribute encrypted content through iTunes, the App Store, and Apple Music.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Friday July 4, 2025 1:05 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are just over two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:Apple logo repositioned: Apple's logo may have a lower position on the back of the iPhone 17 Pro models, compared to previous...
iphone 16 pro models 1

Here's How the iPhone 17 Pro Max Will Compare to the iPhone 17 Pro

Saturday July 5, 2025 1:00 pm PDT by
Apple should unveil the iPhone 17 series in September, and there might be one bigger difference between the Pro and Pro Max models this year. As always, the Pro Max model will be larger than the Pro model:iPhone 17 Pro: 6.3-inch display iPhone 17 Pro Max: 6.9-inch displayGiven the Pro Max is physically larger than the Pro, it has more internal space, allowing for a larger battery and...
iPhone Car Key Kia

Here's Which Vehicles Offer iPhone Car Keys

Sunday July 6, 2025 3:03 pm PDT by
In 2020, Apple added a digital car key feature to its Wallet app, allowing users to lock, unlock, and start a compatible vehicle with an iPhone or Apple Watch. The feature is currently offered by select automakers, including Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and a handful of others, and it is set to expand further. Apple has a web page with a list of vehicle models that ...
imac video apple feature

Apple Launching These 15+ Products Later This Year

Sunday July 6, 2025 8:05 am PDT by
The calendar has turned to July, meaning that 2025 is now more than half over. And while the summer months are often quiet for Apple, the company still has more than a dozen products coming later this year, according to rumors. Below, we have outlined at least 15 new Apple products that are expected to launch later this year, along with key rumored features for each. iPhone 17 Series iPho...
iOS 26 Feature

Everything New in iOS 26 Beta 3

Monday July 7, 2025 1:20 pm PDT by
Apple is continuing to refine and update iOS 26, and beta three features smaller changes than we saw in beta 2, plus further tweaks to the Liquid Glass design. Apple is gearing up for the next phase of beta testing, and the company has promised that a public beta is set to come out in July. Transparency In some apps like Apple Music, Podcasts, and the App Store, Apple has toned down the...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro to Reverse iPhone X Design Decision

Monday July 7, 2025 9:46 am PDT by
Since the iPhone X in 2017, all of Apple's highest-end iPhone models have featured either stainless steel or titanium frames, but it has now been rumored that this design decision will be coming to an end with the iPhone 17 Pro models later this year. In a post on Chinese social media platform Weibo today, the account Instant Digital said that the iPhone 17 Pro models will have an aluminum...
iphone 17 pro render majin bu

New iPhone 17 Pro Renders Highlight Apple Logo and MagSafe Design Changes

Sunday July 6, 2025 8:43 pm PDT by
New renders today provide the best look yet relocated Apple logo and redesigned MagSafe magnet array of the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. Image via Majin Bu. Several of the design changes coming to the iPhone 17 Pro model have been rumored for some time, such as the elongated camera bump that spans the full width of the device, with the LiDAR Scanner and flash moving to the right side. ...
Prime Day 25 Feature Warm Triad

The Best Early Prime Day Deals on Apple Products

Saturday July 5, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Amazon is soon to be back with its annual summertime Prime Day event, lasting for four days from July 8-11, the longest Prime Day yet. As it does every year, Prime Day offers shoppers a huge selection of deals across Amazon's storefront, and there are already many deals you can get on sale ahead of the event. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a ...
airpods pro 2

AirPods Pro 3 to Help Maintain Apple's Place in Earbud Market Amid Increasing Low-Cost Competition

Thursday July 3, 2025 7:25 am PDT by
Apple's position as the dominant force in the global true wireless stereo (TWS) earbud market is expected to continue through 2025, according to Counterpoint Research. The forecast outlines a 3% year-over-year increase in global TWS unit shipments for 2025, signaling a transition from rapid growth to a more mature phase for the category. While Apple is set to remain the leading brand by...

Top Rated Comments

_Spinn_ Avatar
51 months ago
Patent trolls are ruining the system for everyone.
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MJaP Avatar
51 months ago
Hopefully this judgement will make a large chunk of PMC's portfolio utterly worthless.
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple_Robert Avatar
51 months ago
Sounds like the judge made the right call.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
hot-gril Avatar
51 months ago
A great victory, but there will be more of these guys.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Makosuke Avatar
51 months ago

Put on your thinking cap... where do you think the "patent troll" acquired the patent?
Put on your basic math skills: They came up with these ideas and filed for patents in the late '80s. In the intent of the patent system, and any reasonable fair world, they would have 17 years to use or otherwise monetize their idea and profit from it, so until around 2005.

Instead, they intentionally delayed actually getting the patents until at least 2010, well over 17 years after they publicized the idea in the first place and only once the ideas were in widespread use. At no point between whenever they applied and when the patent was granted two decades later did they actually attempt to develop, market, or otherwise use these ideas for the benefit of society, or themselves. In fact, their entire strategy was to lie low and hope nobody even noticed, eventually developed the same thing independently, and it became widespread.

They did this with the express purpose of extending the patent profit window well past the 17-year limit. Worse, they abused how it worked to patent something that had been developed decades ago, re-developed since, and was already in common use and maybe had been for years. And then they didn't defend it, they waited even longer until a big target started using it so they had someone to cash in on.

They didn't create anything, they gamed the system.

As noted in the article, the USPTO actually closed this loophole 26 years ago, way back in 1995, because they realized it was stupid and open to abuse. But this company started the long con before then so got the con grandfathered in.

All of this is exacerbated by how vague the patent office will allow tech patents to be, so you can patent just about anything, and the only defense for society is that at least it can't extend past 17 years.

It's pretty much a guaranteed recipe for profit: Come up with some either vague or extremely specific tech ideas that aren't currently being used but seem like they might be some day. File for patents on them, then wait however long it takes for them to actually be used. Then wait some more until they're in use by a big, rich company. Finish the patent application process, and sue.

You never built anything, your idea has been public for decades, and you get a huge-money payout for doing nothing but applying for patents on a bunch of ideas that aren't yet usable and playing the waiting game.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Cosmosent Avatar
51 months ago
NOT just a win for Apple, but for ALL Tech Companies that actually produce "something" !
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)