Canadian e-commerce platform Shopify has convinced a federal court in Delaware to overturn a jury's ruling that the company owes $40 million in damages for infringing patents related to website building technology.
US District Judge Richard Andrews said on fridayopen a new tab that there was insufficient evidence to support the jury's findings that Shopify infringed the patents, which are owned by patent-owning company Express Mobile.
Attorneys for Express Mobile did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment. A Shopify spokesperson called the decision “a significant victory in the battle against patent trolls.”
Express Mobile holds patents related to Internet and mobile technology developed by its founder, former IBM engineer Steven Rempell. It sued Shopify in 2019, arguing that Shopify's website building tools infringed its patents related to software for serving content to mobile devices.
Express Mobile has sued dozens of technology companies for allegedly infringing the same and other patents, including Google, Meta and Amazon.
A federal jury said last year that Shopify owed Express Mobile a lump sum of $40 million per infringement. Andrews said Friday that the verdict couldn't stand because there was no evidence that any Shopify merchants enabled the features accused of violating Express Mobile's rights.
The case is Shopify Inc v. Express Mobile Inc, U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, No. 1:19-cv-00439.
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