Gurindar Sohi and Terani Vijaykumar, both electrical and electronics engineering graduates of Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, were part of the four-member WARF team that developed the chip technology used without permission by Apple.
Apple Inc. has been ordered to pay $234 million to the intellectual property arm of Wisconsin University for using patented technology developed by its team, including two Indian-American engineers. The award by a federal jury in Madison on Friday was about $165 million less than the amount sought by Wisconsin University Alumni Research Foundation, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
WARF sued Apple in January 2014, claiming that Apple infringed on one of WARF’s patents in creating a processor for its popular mobile devices, starting with the iPhone 5S in 2012. U.S. District Judge William Conley, who presided over the trial, complimented the lawyers on their professionalism and spoke to Wisconsin University-Madison computer sciences’ Prof. Sohi, who led the WARF technology team, seated in the courtroom.
“For Dr. Sohi, I hope you felt that your invention was vindicated,” Conley was quoted as saying. “This is a case where the hard work of our university researchers and the integrity of patenting and licensing discoveries has prevailed,” said Carl Gulbrandsen, managing director of WARF.
Apple attorneys declined to comment, referring questions to the California company’s public relations office, the Journal said. But spokesperson Rachel Tulley said Apple would appeal the verdict.