Smartflash LLC is a company that operates out of a tiny office suite in Tyler, Texas. It has no employees or products and no assets except for a handful of patents—but it may be getting a whole lot of cash. A jury verdict (PDF) that came out late yesterday orders Apple to pay the company $533 million for infringing three of its patents.
The company is no "patent troll," its lawyer insisted in e-mail and telephone discussions with Ars. He says that term doesn't apply because the company is part-owned by founder Patrick Racz, who's the named inventor on the three patents found to be infringed, numbered 7,334,720, 8,118,221, and 8,336,772. All three are related to downloading digital content.
