It was an expensive day—perhaps even an expensive week—for Google Inc. last Thursday. A federal jury decided that the search engine giant owes $85 million in damages to SimpleAir for infringing on their patent, according to a recent statement. The trial and the separate damage ruling were both presided over by Judge Rodney Gilstrap for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
“The jury understood that Google profits tremendously from its infringing use of our invention and we believe that is reflected in its verdict,” said John Payne, the lead inventor and majority owner of SimpleAir, in a statement. SimpleAir had asked the jury for between $127 million and $146 million in damages for past infringement. The company holds ten U.S. patents and several pending applications and licenses inventions to other technology leaders.
