According to court documents filed on Wednesday, a jury in Texas ordered Meta to pay over $170 million in damages. The creator of the Walkie Talkie app filed a lawsuit against Meta in 2020 after accusing the company of violating its patents.
Tom Katis started developing the patents in 2006 as a way to solve communications problems he encountered while serving in Afghanistan. The Walkie Talkie app was launched in 2011.
According to court documents, Meta approached Voxer about a potential collaboration soon after the app launched, after which the tech giant learned of the company's patent portfolio and proprietary technology. Meta didn't have a live voice or live video product at the time, but it was seen as a competitor by the other company. The Walkie Talkie app's access to key Facebook components was revoked.
The court documents show that Facebook Live was launched in 2015 and that the key components of the platform were revoked by the company. Both products are in violation of Voxer's patented technologies.
The documents show that in February 2016 Katis had a chance meeting with a senior product manager of Facebook Live to discuss the issue of Facebook Live's patent violations. In November 2016 Meta launched its social media service.
The evidence presented at the trial showed that Meta did not violate the patents, according to a Meta spokesman.
The statement says that the evidence at trial showed that Meta did not violate the patents. We intend to file an appeal.
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