WD is fined $ 533 million for patent offense, but will only need to pay $ 1

Western Digital (WD) escaped this week from paying compensation of more than half a billion dollars after being tried to blame for a spot of Spex Technologies. Despite the defeat, the storage driving giant will have to pay only $ 1 instead of the $ 533 million that were previously determined.

The process began in October last year, when Spex formally accused the WD of breaking in one of its patents for data encryption in external drives. Throughout the dispute, Spex was able to convince the jury that had its intellectual property violated, and the $ 316 million fine was determined to cover the damage of the affected company.

In addition to the initial value, the case judge, James Selna, established another US $ 237 million in interest charges, to a total of $ 533 million. And it was the same judge who lowered the compensation to just $ 1 after WD appealed.

Western Digital was not innocent, but fine became symbolic

WD appealed the decision, basically asking for a new trial. However, Judge Selna decided to keep the jury verdict that the company is guilty of violating the patent but reducing compensation to the minimum possible amount.

This is because, according to the authority, Spex failed to convincely demonstrate the damage that the infraction of the patent would have caused it.

“During the dispute, Spex’s theory of damage changed as certain evidence and theories became unavailable. At this time, and for the reasons discussed, there is insufficient evidence by which the court could determine a reasonable royalty,” the judge said in his decision.

The change happened because Spex’s damage expert was removed from the process. Without it, the company was not able to properly demonstrate the damage of the infraction of its patent, determined the judge.

Patent affected several WD lines

Spex’s patent is a communication technology between a host device and a peripheral so that safety operations can be performed from the external device to the host.

According to the process, several WD HDDs would be in violation of this record, including drives on the UltraStar, My Book and My Passport lines.

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As the process sought only indemnities, the availability of these products must remain unchanged. Remember that this year WD focused only on HDDs, leaving SSDs to Sandisk.

Via: The Register