Samsung Electronics and Californian start-up Mojo Mobility have clashed again in the courtroom. This time, however, Samsung lost the case. The US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has declared that Samsung infringed on five of Mojo Mobility's patents related to wireless charging technologies.
The court has ordered Samsung to pay Mojo Mobility more than $192 million for patent infringement. Initially, in January, the jury of the first trial said Samsung should pay $67.5 million and a running royalty of $1.50 for each Galaxy phone that infringes on Mojo Mobility patents.
However, the judge ordered a retrial, as the outcome of the first trial was considered unreliable due to the jury's confusion between the definitions of ‘running royalties‘ and ‘lump-sum royalties' (Via The Global Legal Post).
As per definitions offered by Licensing Executives Society International, running royalties imply that the more you use something, like a patent, the more you have to pay, whereas lump-sum royalties consist of paying the same amount no matter how much you use a patent.
Samsung and Mojo Mobility clashed before
While Samsung now has to pay a whopping $192 for infringing five Mojo Mobility patents, it's worth noting that the two companies have met in the court of law before.
According to Austin-based principal Steven Pollinger, interactions between Samsung and Mojo Mobility go back further than ten years. He also added that Samsung raised legal challenges.
In 2022, Mojo Mobility filed a patent infringement suit against Samsung, claiming that the Korean tech giant infringed on its wireless charging technology patents. The company claimed that Samsung used its patented wireless charging technologies since 2016 for devices including Galaxy phones, smartwatches, and others.
In 2023, Samsung filed a patent invalidation lawsuit against Mojo Mobility. However, it doesn't look like the company was able to combat Mojo Mobility's case.
The story continues after the video
Samsung argued against the validity of the patents in eighteen inter parties review petitions (IPR). However, according to Pollinger, “Based upon Mojo Mobility's detailed oppositions to these IPR petitions, the PTAB (Patent Trial and Appeal Board) denied 15 of the 18 IPR petitions levied against the five patents upon which jury trial was had.”
Mojo Mobility claims to be focusing on developing wireless charging and claims to have a unique proprietary Near Field Power technology to enable position-free wireless charging and powering of multiple devices at the same time.
