The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear Mirror Worlds' appeal in its patent infringement case against Apple, bringing an end to the fight and handing the final victory to the iPhone and iPad maker. The legal fight between the two companies started in 2008 when Mirror Worlds took Apple to court for allegedly infringing on its patents with the Spotlight, Time Machine and Cover Flow features in OS X.
Apple gets the final victory in Mirror Worlds' patent infringement case
In October 2010, the patent holder-friendly U.S. District Court in Easter Texas ruled Apple was infringing on three of Mirror Worlds' patents. The court awarded the company over US$625 million in damages, which was shot down when a Federal Appeals Court reversed the ruling in 2011.
Judge Leonard Davis, who was overseeing the appeal stated, "In this case, Mirror Worlds may have painted an appealing picture for the jury, but it failed to lay a solid foundation sufficient to support important elements it was required to establish under the law."
Mirror Worlds followed up with another appeal that ultimately failed in September 2012 with a ruling that stated, "The evidence was insufficient to support the jury's finding of infringement for all of the asserted claims," mirroring the earlier appeal findings.
The company had been hoping to get its case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court by arguing that the Appeals Court improperly stopped the Jury from considering Apple's pubic promotion of the Spotlight feature as proof customers were using it, according to Bloomberg.
With the Supreme Court refusal to hear the case, the Appeals Court ruling stands and Mirror Worlds' losing streak is finished because there isn't another court where it can take its case.
That doesn't, however, mean Mirror Worlds patent infringment trial days are over. None of the courts invalidated its patents, so it can still pursue other companies that it alleges are infringers, but it won't be collecting $625 million from Apple.