McKool Smith, along with the Fabricant Law Firm, secured a $5,000,000 patent infringement verdict on behalf of Vocalife, LLC against Amazon.com, Inc. and Amazon.com, LLC (collectively, “Amazon”).
The verdict was announced on October 8, 2020, following an six-day jury trial before Judge Rodney Gilstrap in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Marshall. Jurors awarded Vocalife $5,000,000 in damages, finding that Amazon infringed Vocalife’s U.S. Patent No. RE47,049, which covers systems and methods for use in a microphone array system essential to virtual assistant smart speakers utilizing Amazon’s “Alexa” technology. The jury also found that the patent was valid.
Amazon was represented by four different law firms and employed over 20 lawyers to try and defeat the Vocalife claims.
“As we argued throughout trial, it is clear that Amazon’s Alexa technology infringes Vocalife’s novel microphone system technology,” said McKool Smith principal Jennifer Truelove, trial counsel for Vocalife. “The jury worked very hard to consider the facts in this case. Our client is pleased with the verdict.”
Along with Ms. Truelove, the McKool Smith trial team included firm principal Sam Baxter.
The case is Vocalife, LLC v. Amazon.com, Inc. and Amazon.com, LLC, case number 2:19-CV-123, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division.
With 150 trial lawyers across offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Marshall, New York, and Washington, D.C., McKool Smith has established a reputation as one of America’s leading trial firms. Since 2006, the firm has secured 12 nine-figure jury verdicts and 15 eight-figure jury verdicts. The firm has also won more VerdictSearch and The National Law Journal “Top 100 Verdicts” over the last ten years than any other law firm in the country. Courtroom successes like these have earned McKool Smith critical acclaim and helped the firm become what The Wall Street Journal describes as “one of the biggest law firm success stories of the past decade.” McKool Smith represents clients in complex commercial litigation, insurance recovery, intellectual property, bankruptcy, and white collar defense matters.
For more information, please contact Yvonnie Phan at (646) 779-1123 or email yvonniep@infiniteglobal.com.