Comcast wins $7.5 million patent case against Sprint

After a four-day federal jury trial, Comcast Corp. won $7.5 million in damages from wireless carrier Sprint Corp. for infringing telecommunications patents. Comcast had asked for $16.5 million.

Comcast, which is seeking regulatory approval to buy rival Time Warner Cable Inc. for $45.2 billion, sued Overland Park-based Sprint in 2012 in Wilmington, Del., alleging Sprint is using Comcast’s protected technology for methods of call routing over the Internet and traditional phone lines.

“Comcast is entitled to a royalty” for the infringement, lawyer Matthew Lehr told jurors at the close of the trial, supervised by U.S. District Judge Richard G. Andrews.

The jury calculated the damage award based on more than a dozen asserted claims of infringement.

“Sprint does not infringe” the three patents, its lead lawyer, Brian Riopelle, said in his summation. “Comcast has tried to obscure the boundaries” of the patents and make them cover too much.

Comcast’s complaint said that “Sprint has had knowledge” of the patented technology since at least November 2008 and “Sprint’s infringement has been willful since that time.”

Mentioned in court papers were parts of Sprint functions such as Sprint Mobile Integration, which expands mobile phone capabilities; use of Google Voice, for online voice mail; and Airave 2, which provides a boosted wireless signal.

This story was originally published October 15, 2014 at 12:10 PM with the headline "Comcast wins $7.5 million patent case against Sprint."