On April 14, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned a $110 million judgment in favor of Finnegan client TCL Communication. The court ruled that Ericsson’s computer security patent is invalid under Section 101, as the patent covers an abstract idea and abstract ideas cannot be patented.
The case began in 2015, when Ericsson sued TCL in the Eastern District of Texas, accusing TCL of infringing five patents (four of the patents were eventually dropped from the case). The district court ruled that TCL willfully infringed Ericsson’s patent and the jury awarded Ericsson $110 million. On appeal, the Federal Circuit sided with TCL, ruling that the technical aspects of the patent do not make it patentable, thus vacating the $110 million judgment.
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