Strategy in TECH...
A jury has come to a unanimous verdict in the matter of Sonos, Inc. vs. Google, LLC, a patent infringement lawsuit initially filed on September 22, 2020, in the U.S. District Court for California Northern District in San Francisco. In the case of one of the two patents under consideration – the ‘885 patent – the jury sided with Sonos, finding that Google products did infringe upon the Sonos patent and awarded them a judgment of $32.5 million.
Earlier this month the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle issued a preliminary order approving a settlement in the matter of Stephen J. Tuttle, et al. v. Audiophile Music Direct, et al (including Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs). The settlement puts to rest all claims that have risen over the issue of Mobile Fidelity’s marketing of premium vinyl recordings as all-analog when in fact, in many instances the production used Direct Stream Digital as part of the manufacturing process.
In a result likely to be viewed by many as anti-climatic, U.S. District Judge James V. Selna has declared a mistrial in the matter of the $1.8 billion trade secret lawsuit between Masimo Corp. et al vs. Apple Inc. et. al. And while I am sure that both sides are disappointed that they failed to prevail, both can take away some positive elements from this null decision that will most likely inform their approach in a new trial.
In more late-breaking news from the Masimo v. Apple trade secrets trial, we learn that U.S. District Judge James V. Selna has cut Masimo’s trade secrets claims in half, down from twelve initial claims to now six viable claims. Based on the expert estimated value of the claims cut, that takes this case from one valued at $3.1 billion in damages to one now valued at $1.8 billion.
In a surprising and rather dramatic late-trial incident, an Apple witness violated a pre-trial order from U.S. District Judge James V. Selna meant to limit the amount of evidence to be presented, and – upon a motion from Masimo – he reversed that order, allowing Masimo to reveal more evidence potentially detrimental to Apple. Specifically, jurors learned that Apple had not just hired two Masimo executives as they had been told, but rather, the tech giant had hired as many as five more (for a total of seven) employees away from Masimo.
The Masimo Corporation $3 billion trade secret misappropriation, patent infringement, and patent ownership trial against Apple, Inc. is continuing and witnesses are offering the jury sharply divergent views of the many elements of this case. While those opposing viewpoints are fairly clear, what is not clear is how the jury is interpreting all of this information, and which side they feel is presenting a true picture of the situation.
On the eve of the upcoming patent trial in the matter of Sonos, Inc. [Nasdaq: SONO], vs. Google, LLC [Nasdaq: GOOG], both parties had submitted motions for summary judgment trying to win as many points as possible while also clearing away as many outstanding issues as possible to limit the number of factual matters to be determined at trial by a jury. It has been a long and winding road to get to this point, but one thing seems clear to me, Sonos may have gotten more than they bargained for, as this action with Google, their largest adversary by far, appears to have taken a bit of a toll.
Last week, a major patent trial began in Southern California as Masimo Corp. vs. Apple Inc. kicked off. And already big stories are flowing out of the proceedings that, for several days now, were entirely or partly conducted in complete secrecy, as Masimo executives testified behind closed doors.
MQA Limited, the company that invented and markets the Master Quality Authenticated digital music system said to deliver lossless high-res streaming music, has entered “administration” in the U.K. Administration is a form of bankruptcy or protection from creditors similar to Chapter 11 bankruptcy here in the U.S. In the U.K., administration offers an insolvent company time to reorganize, develop a new plan, and – with stakeholder and government approval – an opportunity to exit bankruptcy.
As I write this post on Wednesday, it is the opening day of the patent infringement and trade secrets trial based on a lawsuit filed by Masimo Corporation [NASDAQ: MASI] and Cercacor Laboratories, Inc. (a Masimo-affiliated company) versus Apple, Inc. [NASDAQ: AAPL]. You could call it David vs. Goliath, as tiny Masimo tangles with Apple, the largest corporation in the world. This lawsuit was originally filed back in January 2020 by Masimo who claims that Apple has misappropriated trade secrets by hiring former Masimo employees and stealing Masimo patented technologies, valuable intellectual property (IP) they consider trade secrets, for use in Apple products.
