Google must pay SimpleAir $85 million for infringing on notification patent

A jury has assessed damages against Google today in a trial related to push notifications. The lawsuit, filed by SimpleAir, originally asked for between $127-$146 million in damages. The jury has officially awarded them $85 million, though SimpleAir notes they don’t expect this to be the end of it.

“We expect a long road before we actually recover a single dollar from Google, but this is an important milestone along that road” said John Payne, lead inventor and majority owner of SimpleAir. The firm describes themselves as an “inventor-owned technology licensing company”. SimpleAir also notes it “holds ten issued U.S. Patents and several pending patent applications in the areas of wireless content delivery, mobile applications, and push notifications”. Those patents in question with the Google suit were re-examined early last year and confirmed.

The jury convened for less than an hour to decide on the $85 million number, which relate to Google’s past infringements. Damages related to current and ongoing patent infringements will be dealt with sometime in the future, should Google be found ultimately liable. The patents in question pertain to push notifications we all get on our smartphones and tablets. Each time you get a notification pop up from Hangouts, Facebook, or any other app — Google is alleged to be infringing on a SimpleAir patent.

SimpleAir likely isn’t done with their push notification patent squabbles. This is really the second time Google has been found to infringe upon these patents, and the verdict will likely have ripple effects throughout the mobile tech world. While many others simply license the technology from SimpleAir, Google’s decision to hash it out in court set a standard.

Via: Bloomberg