Patent trials came back with a bang last week as an East Texas jury hit Apple with a $506 million dollar damages verdict finding that the company infringed five patents that are essential to the 4G LTE wireless standard.

Litigators of the Week Jason Sheasby of Irell & Manella and Sam Baxter of McKool Smith led the trial team for patent owner PanOptis in the six-day trial before Chief U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, the first to get off the ground during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a sweeping victory for the pair’s client, the eight-person jury found that Apple infringed claims of the five patents at issue, determined that all the asserted claims were valid, and found that Apple’s infringement was willful. With precautions including daily temperature checks and face shield for jurors, plexiglas around the witness box, and lawyers confined to the podium, the plaintiffs team navigated a unique set of challenges to deliver the Texas-sized verdict.