Litigation

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute et al. v. Apple Inc.

settled

1:13-cv-00633

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Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, Albany Division
Filed: 2013-06-03
Terminated: 2016-04-19

Patents at issue (1)

Plaintiffs (2)

Defendants (1)

Δ Apple Inc.

Summary

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Dynamic Advances accused Apple's Siri of infringing U.S. Patent 7,177,798. The parties settled in April 2016, with Apple paying $24.9 million and receiving a license and a three-year covenant not to sue.

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Record id: 7177798-1-13-cv-00633 · edit in Admin

Further reading

How patent trolls operate (and why the business model works)
A junk patent generates settlement income exactly the same way as a strong one, because nobody pays $1M to test a $200k demand. The mechanics matter because the failure modes — what makes assertion campaigns expensive or risky for the troll — are exactly where defendants find leverage.
The Patent Scam (2017): a documentary on the patent troll industry
Most people learn about patent trolls only when they get sued by one. The Patent Scam does the work of making the problem concrete before that happens.
What it costs to get a patent (AIPLA Economic Survey)
A US utility patent costs a median of $8,000-$12,000 in attorney fees to draft and file, depending on the technology — before USPTO fees, before drawings, and before the first office action. Here's the full bill, and why it's a rounding error next to enforcing the thing.
eBay Inc. v. MercExchange (2006)
Pre-eBay, an injunction was a kill switch a patent holder could threaten. Post-eBay, the worst is monetary damages — and for an NPE that wants license fees anyway, the four-factor test usually fails on the irreparable-harm prong.
AI prior art search tools: a 2026 buyer's guide for defendants
AI doesn't replace a patent attorney's judgment. It does replace the search step that used to cost $20,000 and take three weeks.

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