Comcast cleans up with $7.5m patent verdict

US cable company Comcast has won $7.5 million in damages from wireless business Sprint Corp after it was found guilty of infringing patents related to telecommunications.

The two companies had engaged in a four-day jury trial at the US District Court for the District of Delaware.

Comcast, the largest US cable company, had initially had asked for $16.5 million.

The jury calculated the damages on the basis of more than a dozen claims of infringement, but the case centred on the infringement of three of Comcast’s patents: US numbers 8,170,008, 7,012,916, and 8,204,046.

Comcast sued Sprint in 2012 and claimed that its use of Sprint Mobile Integration, as well as several other technologies, violated the patents, which covered call-routing technology for internet and conventional phone lines.

“We appreciate the jury recognised the value of Comcast’s patented IP and we thank them for their time and service,” Charlie Douglas, a Comcast spokesman, said in a statement.

According to media, Sprint was “disappointed” by the verdict but was expecting to appeal against it.

"We remain convinced that Sprint has not infringed any valid, enforceable patent claims of the asserted patents,” a statement added.

Last year, we had reported that Comcast had bought media company NBC Universal for $16.7 billion.