It was a long, hot summer in Texas for Big Tech. Jurors in the Lone Star state walloped Apple with $1.3 billion in damages and royalties in three cases. Tim Cook's company settled with Japan's Maxell Holdings rather than risk making it four for four.
Getting your phones in a row: The patent dispute is in part to do with how iPhones connect to the network via LTE. (Source: Apple)
Intel and Cisco also saw tight-pinching penalties as altogether seven cases awarded over $3.7 billion to aggrieved patent holders. Observers said the tarnished shine of Big Tech, combined with pent-up frustration during coronavirus, may have impelled the jurors in courthouses in towns like Waco, Marshall and Sherman to Texas-sized fines.