Last September, after a jury unanimously ruled that Meta owed walkie-talkie app maker Voxer $175 million for patent infringement, Meta asked a judge to dismiss the jury verdict or I tried to evade payment by demanding that Meta be granted a retrial. A federal judge this week denied Meta’s claims, ruling that Meta will have to pay all ongoing royalties for illegally copying Voxer’s technology and using it to launch Facebook Live and Instagram Live. more likely.
Mehta appeared to be insisting on doing everything he could to get away with multi-million dollar damages. It questioned whether the jury’s decision was reasonable, claiming that Voxer’s attorneys made biased comments to the jury. would not have found it infringing on existing video streaming and messaging technology. Furthermore, even if everyone agreed that infringement existed, Meta argued that the damages were too extreme and improperly calculated by Voxer’s experts. Instead of being obligated to pay the royalties, Meta believed it would be required to pay no damages or a lump sum.
In his decision, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel asserted that substantial evidence supported the jury’s verdict of patent infringement and sufficient evidence supported the damages the jury awarded Voxer.
Meta can still appeal, but a Meta spokesperson declined to tell Ars whether it would.
Ars was not immediately available to comment to Voxer, but this week’s decision marks the end of a decade-long legal saga that began in 2012 when Voxer first met with Facebook to discuss a potential partnership. bring the company closer to
According to Voxer’s complaint, Voxer began developing the technology in 2006 in hopes of helping improve communications on the battlefield. U.S. Army veteran Tom Katis wanted to create a live messaging and video streaming app that would help eliminate the communication interruptions that leave soldiers vulnerable during surprise ambushes and emergency emergencies. was co-founded. That ambition morphed into the walkie-talkie app Voxer launched in 2011. The app became so popular that by 2012 it led to him meeting with Facebook.
Voxer was apparently thrilled to be courted by Facebook, but the partnership fell apart shortly after Voxer shared its patent portfolio and proprietary technology with the social network. When that happened, Facebook revoked Voxer’s access to the platform, deeming Voxer a competitor, and on Facebook he allegedly made Voxer harder to find. Meta then moved forward without Voxer’s involvement, launching Facebook Live in 2015 and Instagram Live in 2016.
After launching, Voxer tried to book another meeting with Facebook, but the social network refused to discuss alleged patent infringement. When Voxer filed his lawsuit in 2020, the app maker claimed that “both products incorporate his Voxer technology and infringe its patents.”
Meta has claimed no patent infringement for three years since then, but notably, the company did not immediately repeat its statement to that effect this week.
Voxer’s victory this week is due to Katis’ patent filing foresight, which has developed a bold new kind of technology that has never been seen before. When Katis built his Voxer, he told an audience at his 2012 conference in Paris that he was surprised at how easily Voxer’s technology was patented. Katis said he succeeded in patenting the technology because “no one,” including Facebook, was “crazy” to try to develop live-streaming technology like the vision he had for his Voxer. “It’s from.”
