A federal jury in Texas has directed Apple to pay $532.9m in damages for violating three patents owned by Smartflash.
The iPhone maker was accused of infringing patents relating to ‘data storage and managing access through payment systems’ and using them in iTunes Store, iOS, and Mac App Stores, reported AppleInsider.
The lawsuit was filed in 2013 when Smartflash demanded $852m in damages.
Reuters cited Apple’s statement as saying: "We refused to pay off this company for the ideas our employees spent years innovating and unfortunately we have been left with no choice but to take this fight up through the court system."
Smartflash lawyer Brad Caldwell said: "Smartflash is very happy with the jury’s verdict, which recognizes Apple’s longstanding willful infringement."
Previously a jury in Tyler federal court ordered Apple to pay $368m in 2012 to VirnetX for patent infringement. However, a federal appeals court later considered that the damages figure was wrongly calculated.
