A Dallas federal jury awarded more than $105 million to a video streaming company in its lawsuit against X Corp. 鈥� the social media company run by Elon Musk 鈥� for patent infringement involving the apps Vine and Periscope.
The jury found April 16 that X, then known as Twitter Inc., willfully infringed on part of a patent for technology that then-Dallas-based company VidStream created allowing Internet users to record videos on social media and distribute those videos within and across platforms.
The jury decided that would cost X $105,444,153 in royalties.
Brad Caldwell, lead attorney for VidStream, didn鈥檛 immediately respond to a request for comment. David McCombs, an attorney for X, declined to comment. Other attorneys for X did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
According to court records, VidStream created a system making it easier to take videos in a variety of formats and transcode them or convert them from one video format to another so the videos could be shared on different social media platforms, websites and television networks.
VidStream alleged Twitter had been aware of the patents since at least 2013. The company Youtoo, which VidStream acquired, informed Twitter鈥檚 then-CEO that Twitter might be infringing on its patents. But that led to Twitter expressing great interest in Youtoo鈥檚 technology and discussing ways to partner up so both could profit.
Youtoo gave Twitter access to a 鈥渄igital sandbox鈥� to try Youtoo鈥檚 technology out. During those two years of business negotiations, VidStream says Twitter copied its patented technology to use in Vine and later Periscope.
Twitter acquired Vine in 2013 and Periscope in 2015, launching them as standalone apps used for sharing and broadcasting video, respectively. Vine was shut down in 2017 and Periscope was discontinued in 2021, with Twitter incorporating most of Periscope's features into its own website.
Patents contain claims setting the boundaries of the inventor鈥檚 rights. Twitter challenged two of the patents in 2017, but the United States Patent Trial and Appeal Board rejected both claims. Jurors found Twitter only willfully infringed upon one part of a patent: a claim referring to a server system capturing video content in accordance with predetermined constraints, including a video鈥檚 frame rate.
The suit was filed in 2016, before Musk 鈥� and before he changed the platform's terms of service last year. The change requires all legal disputes related to X be filed in the Northern District of Texas or state courts in Tarrant County.
Got a tip? Email Toluwani Osibamowo at tosibamowo@kera.org. You can follow Toluwani on X .
四虎影院 is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider . Thank you.
