October 25, 2013 - ParkerVision Inc. was awarded $173 million by a federal jury in its patent suit against Qualcomm Inc. That's the largest jury verdict in a patent lawsuit in 2013, but it still falls well short of the $500 million ParkerVision had requested.
ParkerVision had expected the jury to find that the infringement was willful, which would have meant treble damages. However, the jury rejected the plaintiff's argument that the infringement was intentional and awarded the lower sum.
ParkerVision claims it showed Qualcomm the patents in the late 1990s in an attempt to license the patents to Qualcomm, but that negotiations failed.
The judge in the case still has to decide whether or not to award ParkerVision an injunction blocking Qualcomm from using the patented technology, or whether Qualcomm can continue to use the technology and pay royalties throughout the life of the patents.