Google ordered to pay $20M for ripping off anti-malware patents in Chrome

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Google has been ordered to pay $20m damages after its Chrome browser was found to have infringed four anti-malware patents.

According to The next web, Google is tremendously dedicated to improving its Chrome browser, but it appears the search engine giant might’ve gotten a little carried away in the process – and now it has to pay the piper.

A District Court in Texas ordered the tech giant to spew out $20 million in damages for infringing four anti-malware patents  in Chrome. The verdict was delivered on Friday following a jury trial in the city of Marshall.

The decision comes as a result of a lawsuit filed by Alfonso Cioffi and the now-diseased Lucent engineer Allen Rozman dating back to 2013. Back in 2014, a US District Court judge dismissed the case after the plaintiffs acceded that an infringement claim is unlikely to hold up under the judge’s interpretation of the words ‘web browser process.’

This is not the first time that the tech giant is being involved in patent cases. Back in 2012, the company as well got in trouble over allegedly infringed patents used in Chrome for mobile.

Google then appealed to the US Supreme Court to hear the case, but the Supes declined. Ultimately the patent could yield $60m for the surviving family of the inventor. Google has said it maintains its position that the patents are invalid.

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