How Apple managed to overturn $308.5 million patent infringement fine

Apple Inc persuaded a federal judge to throw out a $308.5 million jury verdict it lost to a privately-held licensing firm for infringing a patent associated with digital rights management.

In a Thursday night decision, US District Judge Rodney Gilstrap said Personalized Media Communications LLC (PMC) intentionally delayed filing its application with the US Patent and Trademark Office, hoping to obtain a larger payout.

“This court takes very seriously the prospect of disturbing the unanimous verdict of a duly empaneled jury,” but PMC’s “deliberate strategy of delay” was a “conscious and egregious misuse of the statutory patent system,” Gilstrap wrote.