(September 21, 2022, Austin, TX) In a case spanning 339 Docket entries and with 31 attorneys appearing, an Austin jury has handed down a $174,530,785 decision, with running royalties, to walkie-talkie maker Voxer Inc. in its suit against Meta Platforms Inc in the Western District of Texas.
See Voxer Inc v. Meta Platforms Inc, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, No. 1:20-cv-00655.
In a seven day trial, the jury unanimously decided that Facebook Live and Instragram Live used inventive technologies created by Voxer, which technologies Facebook was made aware of at least three years before launching Facebok Live.
Voxer was founded by a former Green Beret, who developed these push-to-talk technologies to solve battlefield communication issues he encountered in Afghanistan after 9/11. Having invented and patented these technologies, the soldier attempted in 2012 to partner with Facebook. Facebook blocked much of his app before coming out with their own, similar products in 2015 (Facebook Live) and 2016 (Instagram Live). The jury believed this was not a coincidence or natural co-evolution.
Voxer v. Meta was initially filed in Waco (WDTX) with Judge Albright. It survived Facebook’s attempt to transfer it to the Northern District of California, but was successfully transfered to Austin. Five months later, Judge Albright was replaced by Judge Yeakel and Magistrate Judge Hightower, who brought the case to conclusion.
Appearing for Voxer were Andrew Naravage, Christine Chen, Gavin Snyder, Kevin P.B. Johnson, Michael Powell, Sam Stake, Vance Prescott, Ognjen Zivojnovic, Robert W. Stone, and Kate Shih from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan; along with Mark Mann and G. Blake Thompson from Mann Tindel Thompson; and Arthur Gollwitzer from Jackson Walker.
For Facebook and/or Meta in this campaign were Jason George, Jee Young Kim, Molly Villagra, Christa Anderson, David Silbert, Eugene Paige, Kristen Lovin, Matthew Werdegar, Paven Malhotra, Philip Tassin, Puja V. Parikh, Robert Van Nest, Ryan Hayward, Shayne Henry, Sean Arenson, and Vishesh Narayen from Keker Van Nest & Peters; along with Patrick Clutter, Michael E. Jones, and Shaun Hassett from Potter Minton; and Blaine Evanson from Gibson, Dunn.
