DataQuill Wins $31.5 Million Texas Patent Infringement Verdict against ZTE Corp.
Eastern District federal jury says mobile device supplier infringed smartphone patents
MARSHALL, Texas, June 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- A jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Marshall has ordered the fourth-largest supplier of mobile devices in the U.S. to pay $31.5 million for infringing two technology patents owned by DataQuill Ltd.
China-based ZTE Corp., which also is the second-largest supplier of prepaid mobile devices in the U.S., was ordered to pay the multimillion-dollar verdict on June 18. Jurors found that the company infringed DataQuill's U.S. Patent Nos. 6,058,304 and 7,139,591, which were issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2000 and 2006, respectively.
The jury heard evidence that ZTE ignored a 2009 letter from DataQuill about the infringed patents and refused to enter a licensing agreement. The $31.5 million verdict covers ZTE's infringement of a variety of mobile devices through March 2015, including over 50 different smartphone models manufactured by ZTE.
DataQuill was represented at trial by a team that included attorneys Parker C. Folse and Joseph S. Grinstein of Susman Godfrey L.L.P.; Johnny Ward of Longview's Ward, Smith & Hill, PLLC; Leslie Payne of Houston's Heim, Payne & Chorush LLP, and S. Calvin Capshaw of Gladewater's Capshaw DeRieux LP, among others.
The jury appearing before Judge Rodney Gilstrap affirmed the validity of all five of DataQuill's infringement claims against ZTE. The case, which was filed in 2013, is DataQuill Ltd. v. ZTE USA Inc., No. 2:13-CV-00634.
Longview, Texas-based Ward, Smith & Hill, PLLC, has tried more than 350 cases to verdict, earning a national reputation in high-stakes claims involving complex commercial litigation, intellectual property law, oil and gas matters, bad faith insurance claims, and serious personal injury claims. The firm frequently assists lawyers nationwide in complex cases before Texas juries.
For more information on the $31.5 million patent infringement verdict won by DataQuill, please contact Bruce Vincent at 800-559-4534 or [email protected].
SOURCE Ward, Smith & Hill, PLLC
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