Back in February jurors decided Apple should pay $532.9 million due to an infringement of three patents owned by Smartflash LLC, reports Reuters.
The company, which is based in Texas, claimed that Apple’s iTunes software infringed on its technology before a group of jurors awarded the damages to Smartflash.
However, at the time Apple argued that the damages were far beyond what they should pay due to a misunderstanding of the market value of the entire product, as opposed to just how much the infringed technology was worth outside of the unpatented features.
After Apple’s appeal a US District Judge overturned the payment figure and instead set a new trial date.
Smartflash first made the accusation back in May 2013. The infringed patents pointed to features for accessing and storing songs, videos and games, which led to Apple being able to sell more of its product line, they said.
According to the lawsuit, Patrick Racz, who had a hand in the invention of the Smartflash patents, talked about them to a European company all the way back in 2000. One of the people he talked to was Augustin Farrugia, who went on to become a senior director with Apple.
However, according to this article on 9to5Mac, Smartflash owns just seven patents through which it derives 100% of its income. As that article notes, Apple has talked about its position on patent trolls before.
The retrial is set for 14 September.