AZA Wins $9M Jury Verdict in Texas Patent Infringement Case Against Motorola

MARSHALL, Texas – Houston patent trial lawyer Demetrios Anaipakos of AZA, or Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing, has won a $9 million federal jury verdict for Texas-based patent licensing company Saint Lawrence Communications LLC against technology heavyweight Motorola Mobility LLC for patent infringement.

After a week-long trial, jurors in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas decided that Motorola had “willfully” infringed on five Saint Lawrence Communications patents relating to HD Voice technology. Willful infringement allows U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap to potentially triple the nearly $9.2 million verdict delivered on March 24.

Media coverage of the case includes  Law360 in the story Texas Jury Hits Motorola For $9M In HD Voice Patent Trial (subscription required) , Texas Lawbook in the story AZA Firm Scores $9 million Verdict Against Motorola Mobility (subscription required) and the Southeast Texas Record in Motorola order to pay $9 million in patent infringement case filed by Plano company.

“The jury agreed Saint Lawrence has world-class technology that Motorola has known about for a decade and has refused to license. They gave Saint Lawrence every penny we asked for,” said Mr. Anaipakos, who led the trial effort along with AZA lawyers Amir Alavi, Alisa Lipski, Brian E. Simmons, Michael McBride, Masood Anjom, Kyril Talanov, Nathan Campbell, Jamie Aycock, Scott W. Clark, Weining Bai and Justin Chen.

Saint Lawrence owns six families of patents that are essential to the Adaptive Multi-Rate-Wideband (AMR-WB) standard, which provides excellent speech quality transmission. The company, headquartered in the Dallas suburb of Plano, is pursuing claims against multiple communications companies that are using its technology without paying license fees. It has achieved significant injunctive relief in Germany against big players there.

In the case tried in Marshall, jurors found that Motorola infringed on Patent Nos. 6,795,805, 6,807,524, 7,151,802, 7,260,521 and 7,191,123. The case is Saint Lawrence Communications LLC v. Motorola Mobility LLC, No. 2:15-cv-00351.

Wesley Hill of Longview-based Ward Smith & Hill, PLLC, was local counsel in the case. Houston lawyer Christopher M. First of Heim Payne & Chorush LLP also worked with the AZA team.

AZA, or Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing, is a Houston-based law firm that is home to true courtroom lawyers with a formidable track record in complex commercial litigation, including energy, intellectual property, and business dispute cases. AZA is recognized in Chambers USA 2016 among the best in Texas commercial law; U.S. News & World Report and The Best Lawyers in America as one of the country’s best commercial litigation firms in 2016; and Law360 as one of only 13 Texas Powerhouse law firms. National corporate counsel named AZA one of the country’s best in client service among law firms serving the Fortune 1000. Read more at https://azalaw.com.