Rembrandt Wireless Technologies, LP v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Rembrandt sued for infringement of two patents that share a specification and claim priority to a provisional application filed in 1997, describing “a system and method of communication in which multiple modulation methods are used to facilitate communication among a plurality of modems in a network, which have heretofore been incompatible.” The patents explain that in the prior art “a transmitter and receiver modem pair can successfully communicate only when the modems are compatible at the physical layer,” so that “communication between modems is generally unsuccessful unless a common modulation method is used.” The patents propose using the first section of a transmitted message (header) to indicate the modulation method being used for the substance of the message (payload). A jury found that Samsung infringed the patents, which were not invalid over prior art, and awarded Rembrandt $15.7 million in damages. The Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s claim construction of “modulation method of a different type” as “different families of modulation techniques, such as the FSK family of modulation methods and the QAM family of modulation methods.” The court vacated and remanded an order denying Samsung’s motion to limit Rembrandt’s damages for alleged failure to mark patented articles. View "Rembrandt Wireless Technologies, LP v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd." on Justia Law