Out-Law / Your Daily Need-To-Know

A US federal court jury has found that Swedish mobile phone maker Ericsson infringed a patent held by Florida-based communications equipment company Harris Corp. The jury ordered Ericsson to pay compensatory damages of $61 million.

According to a statement issued by Harris, a jury in the US Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas found that Ericsson's cellular phones and base stations infringed Harris's US patent covering a method for "digital transmissions over a dynamic channel." The patent in dispute expired in 2000.

Harris, which sued in 1998, notes that the award could be doubled or tripled by the court because the jury found the patent infringement was "wilful" – although it expects Ericsson to appeal the ruling.

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