Shopify wins reversal of $40 mln web-technology patent verdict

Canadian e-commerce platform Shopify has convinced a Delaware federal court to overturn a jury’s decision that the company owes $40 million in damages for infringing patents related to website-building technology.

U.S. District Judge Richard Andrews said on Friday, opens new tab that there was insufficient evidence to support the jury’s findings that Shopify infringed the patents, which belong to patent-holding company Express Mobile.

Attorneys for Express Mobile did not immediately respond on Monday to a request for comment. A Shopify spokesperson called the decision “a significant victory in the battle against patent trolls.”

Express Mobile owns patents related to internet and mobile technology developed by its founder, former IBM engineer Steven Rempell. It sued Shopify in 2019, arguing that Shopify’s website-building tools infringed its patents related to software for providing content to mobile devices.

Express Mobile has sued dozens of tech companies for allegedly infringing the same and other patents, including Google, Meta and Amazon.

A federal jury said last year that Shopify owed Express Mobile a lump sum of $40 million for infringement. Andrews said on Friday that the verdict could not stand because there was no evidence that any Shopify merchant enabled the features accused of violating Express Mobile’s rights.

The case is Shopify Inc v. Express Mobile Inc, U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, No. 1:19-cv-00439.