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WiLAN files appeal in Apple WiFi case

Back from under the bridge

WiLAN, which last October lost a patent case against Apple that had been settled by companies like Dell, HP and Alcatel-Lucent, has decided to appeal the case.

Its original case sought nearly a quarter of a billion from Cupertino, but a US jury not only flicked its suit, but also invalidated some of the claims in the WiLAN patent.

WiLAN's patent covers spread spectrum technology. The key claims of the patent, 1 and 10 – the transmitter and receiver portions of the spread spectrum system – were invalidated in last year's decision.

However, on April 3, US Eastern District judge Rodney Gilstrap ruled against the invalidation of those claims. In his decision, the judge ruled that Apple had failed to identify how a key aspect of the claims, a “complex multiplier”, had been disclosed by the prior art.

“The Court is unable to find that the jury’s finding as to invalidity of claims 1 and 10 of the ’802 patent is supported by substantial evidence. Accordingly, the jury’s invalidity verdict cannot stand,” judge Gilstrap wrote.

That reinstatement of its patent claims is now the basis for WiLAN's appeal, filed today in the US Court of Appeals. ®

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