Google was accused of breaching patents on anti-virus features in Chrome that stopped malware from accessing essential files on a computer.
Alphabet’s Google persuaded a US appeals court on Tuesday to dismiss three anti-malware patents at the basis of a $20 million (approximately Rs. 163 crore) infringement decision against the business.
The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Alfonso Cioffi and Allen Rozman’s patents were invalid because they comprised inventions that were not included in an earlier version of the patent.
Google spokesperson José Castaeda expressed gratitude for the decision. The inventors’ representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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In 2013, Cioffi and the late Rozman’s daughters filed a federal lawsuit against Google in East Texas, alleging that anti-malware functionality in Google’s Chrome web browser infringed on their patents for technology that stops malware from accessing crucial data on a computer.
In 2017, a jury found Google infringed on the patents and awarded the plaintiffs $20 million (approximately Rs. 163 crore) plus continued payments, which their attorney estimated at the time would amount around $7 million (about Rs. 57 crore) per year for the following nine years.
The Federal Circuit, however, ruled on Tuesday that all of the patents were invalid. According to the unanimous three-judge panel, the three patents were reissued from an earlier anti-malware patent, and federal law required the new patents to cover the same invention as the first.
According to the appeals court, the new patents detail technology particular to web browsers that the previous patent did not cover.
Cioffi v. Google, No. 18-1049, US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
