A US jury on Wednesday ordered Meta to pay $174.5 million for infringing a live-streaming patent developed by a US Army veteran to address flaws in battlefield communications.
A trial in federal court in Texas ended with jurors ruling that the “Live” features in Facebook and Instagram use patented technology from Voxer, the company co-founded by Tom Cates, legal documents show. runs
“We believe the evidence at trial demonstrated that Meta did not infringe Voxer’s patents,” a company spokesman said in response to an AFP inquiry.
“We intend to seek further relief, including filing an appeal.”
Cates re-enlisted in the Army after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States and served as a Special Forces communications sergeant in Afghanistan.
When his combat unit was ambushed in Kannada province, he found systems for coordinating reinforcements, medical evacuations and more “with multiple groups in a highly disruptive environment,” the complaint said. were not suitable for time-sensitive communications”.
“Mr. Cates and his team began developing communications solutions in 2006 to address these deficiencies,” his lawyers said.
“New technologies enabled the transmission of voice and video communications with the immediacy of direct communication and the reliability and convenience of messaging.”
Facebook approached San Francisco-based Voxer about a possible collaboration after it launched the walkie-talkie app in 2011, but no deal was reached, according to legal documents.
Instead, the lawsuit argued, Facebook launched Facebook Live and Instagram Live, which incorporated Voxer technology into the features.
