A Texan jury has ordered Samsung to pay Californian start-up Mojo Mobility just over $192m for infringing five of its wireless charging patents.

On 13 September the jury, before US district judge Rodney Gilstrap in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, found that Samsung had wilfully infringed five of Mojo’s patents related to wireless charging technology and products in its Galaxy smartphones and other devices. 

Mojo was represented by a team from US trial firm McKool Smith led by Austin-based principal Steven Pollinger.

He said: “Our client Mojo appreciates the jury’s attention and is pleased the jury recognised the facts and the issues at stake." He added Mojo "looks forward to compensation for developing this critical technology.” 

Along with Pollinger, the McKool Smith trial team included Texas-based principals Samuel Baxter, Kevin Burgess, Charles Fowler Jr., Ryan McBeth and Jennifer Truelove as well as Washington DC-based principal Chris McNett. The team also included senior counsel Neil Ozarkar and associates George Fishback Jr. and Kenneth Scott.

Pollinger noted that the interaction between the two parties dates back more than 10 years and that Samsung “raised very possible legal challenge”.

In addition to its defences asserted in the district court case, Samsung challenged the validity of the patents in 18 inter parties review (IPR) petitions before the US Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).

“Based upon Mojo Mobility's detailed oppositions to these IPR petitions, the PTAB denied 16 of the 18 IPR petitions levied against the five patents upon which jury trial was had," he said.

He added: “This case also shows the level of detail required to prove patent damages. Mojo Mobility engaged a PhD survey expert who conducted a detailed survey of more than 2,000 participants to assess the economic value of the infringement to Samsung's business.”

This win follows two other verdicts McKool Smith has secured against Samsung in recent months, including a $142m patent damages verdict in April on behalf of licensing company G+ Communications against Samsung for infringement of its 5G standard essential patents (SEPs).

This verdict almost doubled the amount the jury came up with in the first trial in January of $67.5m against Samsung plus a running royalty of $1.50 per phone. The judge had ordered a retrial as he considered the outcome of the jury trial unreliable as there was evidence of confusion between the meaning of lump-sum royalties and running royalties.

The current case is Mojo Mobility Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. et al. in the Eastern District of Texas. The case number is 2:22-cv-00398.