A federal jury in Austin, Texas, found that Meta infringed on two patents held by Voxer, a walkie-talkie messaging app founded by Tom Katis, a former Army Green Beret, and ordered the company to pay nearly $175 million in damages for infringing its patents.
In 2012, Facebook approached Voxer about a possible collaboration. Voxer agreed to the proposal, which resulted in Voxer sharing its patents and proprietary information with Facebook, now Meta.
Facebook subsequently denied Voxer access to key components of the Facebook platform, allowing it to launch Facebook Live in 2015 and Instagram Live in 2016 using Voxer technologies and infringe its patents. As a result, the Texas jury ruled that Facebook Live and Instagram Live used two of Voxer’s technologies that include network-based media streaming.
According to a Meta spokesman, the social media giant will continue to pursue the case in court because the evidence in court showed that Meta did not infringe on Voxer’s patents.
In court filings, Meta also claimed that “Facebook has prioritized live video messaging since the launch of Facebook Live and Instagram Live, with one report identifying Facebook Live as Facebook’s top priority.”
The source for this piece includes an article in MillitaryTimes.