- Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world’s largest cloud service provider owned by Amazon.com, owes Kove $525 million for infringing a patent.
- Kove called the infringed technologies “critical” to Amazon’s cloud computing unit’s ability to “store and retrieve large amounts of data.”
- AWS has denied all the allegations and argued that the patents are invalid.
Debts due to patent infringement
A federal jury in Illinois said on April 10 that Amazon Web Services, the world’s largest cloud service provider owned by Amazon.com, owes technology company Kovek $525 million for violating its patent rights in data storage technology. The jury ruled that AWS infringed on three of Kove’s patents covering technology that Kove said was “critical” to Amazon’s cloud computing unit’s ability to “store and retrieve large amounts of data.”
An Amazon spokesman said the company disagreed with the ruling and intended to appeal. Courtland Reichman, Kove’s lead attorney, said the verdict “demonstrates the power of innovation and the importance of protecting startups’ intellectual property from tech giants.”
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AWS argued that the patent was invalid
Chicago-based Kove sued Amazon in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 2018. The company said in the lawsuit that it pioneered the technology to enable high-performance cloud storage “years before the cloud existed.” Kove alleges that AWS ‘Amazon S3 storage service, DynamoDB database service and other products infringe on cloud storage patents. The jury on Wednesday agreed with Kove that AWS infringed on all three of Kove’s disputed patents, although it rejected Kove’s argument that AWS intentionally infringed its rights.
AWS has denied the allegations and argued that the patents are invalid.
Kove also sued Google last year for infringing the same patents in a separate lawsuit in Illinois, which is still ongoing.
