-Data storage supplier Western Digital should pay $315.7 million in damages for violating a patent proprietor’s rights in knowledge safety know-how, a jury in California federal court docket mentioned on Friday.
The jury decided that a number of Western Digital self-encrypting exhausting drive merchandise infringe a SPEX Technologies patent protecting knowledge encryption improvements, a SPEX lawyer mentioned in an electronic mail.
San Jose, California-based SPEX sued Western Digital in 2016. SPEX mentioned it purchased the patent at problem from Spyrus, a cryptography firm that developed the know-how for encrypting delicate communications.
Spyrus co-founder Sue Pontius mentioned she was grateful to the jury for the decision. SPEX’s lead lawyer, Marc Fenster, mentioned the decision was “a vindication of Sue Pontius and her perseverance.”
A Western Digital spokesperson mentioned the corporate disagrees with the decision and plans to problem it in post-trial motions and an attraction if vital.
The lawsuit mentioned Western Digital knowledge storage units together with its Ultrastar, My Book and My Passport merchandise infringed the patent. Western Digital denied the allegations.
In July, a distinct jury in the identical Santa Ana, California, court docket mentioned Western Digital owed greater than $262 million to a different firm for infringing patents associated to growing exhausting drive storage capability.