Meta Platforms Inc announced Wednesday that it will appeal a nearly $175 million decision handed down by jurors in Austin, Texas, who ruled it infringed on two patents owned by walkie-talkie app creator Voxer Inc linked to video streaming and messaging.
After a seven-day trial, the jury determined that Meta's Facebook Live and Instagram Live live-streaming capabilities exploited Voxer's patented technology, awarding Voxer $174.5 million in patent royalty damages.
According to a Meta spokeswoman, the business believes the evidence shows it did not infringe. According to the spokeswoman, Meta wants to dispute the verdict in trial court and on appeal.
Voxer and its attorneys did not reply quickly to demands for comment on Thursday.
Based in San Francisco Voxer's app was released in 2011.
It stated that in 2012, it met with Facebook about a prospective collaboration and divulged its patented technology to the tech giant.
According to Voxer's 2020 lawsuit, the talks did not result in an agreement, and Facebook cut Voxer off from critical parts of its platform in 2013. According to Voxer, Meta introduced Facebook Live in 2015 and Instagram Live the following year, reportedly incorporating the streaming technology it pioneered.
One of the Voxer patents relates to a method for streaming video, while the other relates to infrastructure for a video-messaging service. On Wednesday, the jury dismissed Meta's claim that the video-messaging patent was invalid.
In a filing on Tuesday, Meta stated that no reasonable juror could conclude that its services functioned in the same way as Voxer's patented technology, and that the app creator was not entitled to any damages.