Last November, lawyers for Meta Platforms – formerly known as Facebook – argued that the patent infringement lawsuit brought by messaging app developer Voxer should be moved out of Waco and away from U.S. District Judge Alan Albright.
As a result, Judge Albright sent the case to nearby Austin and the case was reassigned to U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel.
On Wednesday, an Austin jury in Judge Yeakel’s courtroom found that Meta’s two subsidiaries, Instagram Live and Facebook Live, infringed on two patents owned by Voxer and awarded the San Francisco-based walkie-talkie app maker $174,530,785.
The jury, which heard a week of testimony and arguments, ruled that Meta owes Voxer an ongoing royalty for use of the patented technology.
The trial victory is a big win for law firms Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Mann Tindel Thompson, who represented Voxer in the litigation. Kate Kaufman Shih, a partner at Quinn Emanuel in Houston, was one of the lead lawyers for Voxer.
Potter Minton and Van Nest & Peters were the lawyers defending Meta.
The case is Voxer Inc. v. Meta Platforms, Western District of Texas, Case No. 20-CV-00655.