Gurinder Sohi and Terani Vijaykumar are names you
probably won’t recognize. But they are the David to Apple’s Goliath in a
lawsuit that accuses the iPhone maker of illegally using their patented
technology. A jury in US recently found that Apple infringes upon a
computer processor patent made by Sohi, Vijaykumar and two others in its
iPhone 5S, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and iPad Air 2. Here are 5 things
you should know about Sohi and Vijaykumar...
1.
Sohi and Vijaykumar were part of a
team of four engineers who created a “Table based data speculation
circuit for parallel processing computer” that Apple eventually used to
“enhance efficiency and performance” of its iPhone and iPad processors,
according to the complaint. The lawsuit was filed by the Wisconsin
Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), University of Wisconsin, where Sohi
led the team of engineers.
2.
Sohi was the lead engineer of the
project, which was granted a patent in the US in 1998. He is currently a
professor of computer sciences at the University of Wisconsin Madison.
Vijaykumar, on the other hand, is a professor of electrical and computer
engineering at Purdue University. Both pursued their graduation at
BITS, Pilani.
3.
According to the complaint filed
by WARF in the Wisconsin court, the patented work “has been recognized
as a major milestone in the field of computer microprocessor
architecture/design.” It improves the power efficiency and performance
in processors with the help of a “data speculation circuit.”
4.
The jury ruled that Apple
infringed upon all of the six patents in WARF’s complaint and rejected
Apple’s request to prove patent invalidity.
5.
WARF had sued Apple for a sum of
$862.4 million, but the jury has not yet decided how much would be
granted to the foundation and the team members.
6.
WARF had sued Intel for the same
patent in 2008 as well, but that case was reportedly settled out of
court for an undisclosed sum of money.
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