is facing a hefty bill after losing a patent infringement lawsuit. A federal judge in Texas ordered the company to pay Voxer, the developer of an app called Walkie Talkie, nearly $175 million in ongoing royalties. Voxer accused Meta of infringing on its patents and included the technology and .
In 2006, Tom Katis, founder of Voxer, set out to find a way to solve the communication problems he had while serving in the US Army in Afghanistan, such as Note. Katis and his team have developed technology that enables live voice and video transmission, resulting in Voxer .
According to the lawsuit, shortly after Voxer released the app, Meta (then known as Facebook) approached the company about a partnership. Voxer is said to have disclosed its proprietary technology as well as its patent portfolio to Meta, but the two sides failed to reach an agreement. Voxer stated that while Meta had no live voice or video services at the time, it identified developer Walkie Talkie as a competitor and closed access to Facebook features such as tools. “Find friend”.
Meta launched Facebook Live in 2015. Katis claims to have met by chance with the Facebook Live product manager in early 2016 to discuss Voxer’s alleged patent infringement in that product, but Meta refused to reach an agreement with the company. The latter released Instagram Live later that year. “Both products incorporate Voxer’s technology and infringe its patents,” Voxer stated in the lawsuit.
Meta denied Voxer’s claims in a statement TechCrunch. It plans to resist the rule. “We believe the evidence at trial demonstrated that Meta did not infringe on Voxer patents,” a spokesperson said. “We intend to seek further relief, including filing an appeal.”
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