Apple was ordered to pay Personalized Media Communications $ 308.5 million after a federal jury in Texas concluded that the company had infringed a technology patent related to digital rights management, Bloomberg reported. PMC sued Apple for its FairPlay technology, used to distribute encrypted content from iTunes, Apple Music and its App Store.
PMC, which is a patent licensing company, originally sued Apple in 2015, claiming that the technology giant had infringed seven of its patents. Apple successfully challenged the case to the Patent and Appeals Court, but an appeals court reversed the patent board’s decision last March, and the case went to trial.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Verge on Sunday but said Bloomberg would appeal the decision. “Cases like this, brought by companies that do not manufacture or sell any product, stifle innovation and, ultimately, harm consumers,” says the statement from Apple.
Reuters notes that Sugarland, Texas-based PMC also has pending infringement cases against Netflix, Google and Amazon.