A federal jury in Marshall has hit Verizon with a $847 million verdict in favor of Dallas-based General Access Solutions, finding the major phone carrier infringed on two patents that covered 5G wireless mobile services.
After a weeklong trial that ended Friday, the jury said Verizon should pay $583 million for infringement of one patent and $264 million for infringement of the other. The jury rejected Verizon’s argument that the patents were invalid because of a lack of written description or because they were not fully enabled, according to the jury verdict form.
Verizon, which had denied infringing General Access’s patents, vowed to appeal and “pursue administrative remedies to supersede” the verdict, the company wrote in a brief statement.
“We respect the judicial process but profoundly disagree with this jury’s verdict,” the company said. “This is not the end of the matter.”
General Access, formerly known as Raze Technologies, Inc., pioneered 4G wireless networks in the early 2000s, according to its 2022 lawsuit.
On April 20, 2001, Raze inventor Paul Struhsaker and his colleagues applied for a patent which led to what was referred to at trial as the ‘794 patent. Struhsaker and his colleagues filed another patent application on Sept. 5, 2001, that became what was called the ’931 patent.
General Access says that when Verizon began rolling out its 5G network in 2018, its base station equipment infringed on the ’931 patent. Other Verizon wireless devices such as its Wi-Fi home and office routers with cellular backhaul, Wi-Fi hot spots and cell phones with Wi-Fi hot spot functionality infringed on the ’794 patent, the company alleged.
General Access had also pointed to telecommunications company Ericsson Inc., whose equipment was used by Verizon. Ericsson intervened in the case.
A jury was selected June 24, and testimony was presented over four days in U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap’s court. Jurors deliberated about three hours before delivering their verdict Friday, court records show.
Lawyers for General Access and for Ericsson did not respond to requests for comment. Verizon declined to permit their lawyers to be interviewed.
General Access was represented by Glen E. Summers, Nosson D. Knobloch, Michael J. Valaik, Giovanni J. Sanchez, John Hughes, Luke Beasley and Taylor Kelson of Bartlit Beck as well as T. John Ward Jr., Charles Everingham IV and Andrea L. Fair of Ward Smith & Hill.
Verizon was represented by Josh A. Krevitt, Katherine Q. Dominguez, Brian A. Rosenthal, Sung Bin Lee, Jaysen S. Chung, Andrew W. Robb, Ashbey N. Morgan and Michelle J. Zhu of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher as well as Deron R. Dacus of The Dacus Firm.
Ericsson Inc. was represented by Douglas Mark Kubehl, Griffin Randolph Tolle, Jeffery Scott Becker, Melissa Leyla Muenks, Michael A. Hawes of Baker Botts as well as John Daniel Haynes, Michael Clayton Deane and Wesley Cameron Achey of Alston & Bird.
The case number is 2:22-cv-00394, General Access Solutions, Ltd. v. Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless, et al, in the Eastern District of Texas.