Jury Win for G+ Communications against Samsung

Irell client G+ Communications prevailed in a jury trial against Samsung on patents essential to the 5G standard originally created by ZTE, a Chinese telecommunications company. The jury found infringement of two patents and also rejected Samsung’s claim that G+ breached its obligation of good faith negotiation, which exists because the patents are standard essential. The jury awarded a royalty rate of $1.50 per unit. The damages to date are $67.5 million. The case was tried in the courtroom of Judge Rodney Gilstrap of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

The Irell team included Jason Sheasby, Lisa Glasser, Michael Harbour, Benjamin Manzin-Monnin and Justin Linetski. McKool Smith served as co-counsel.

The case is G+ Communications, LLC v. Samsung Electronics Co. LTD., et al., 22-cv-00078.