Google reaches settlement in $1.6B patent infringement case

Google patent infringement settlement overview: 

• Who: Google agreed to a settlement with Singular Computing in a $1.6 billion artificial intelligence (AI) patent lawsuit.
• Why: The lawsuit claimed Google used patented AI processing in its Tensor Processing Units.
• Where: Google and Singular computing reached the Google settlement in federal court in Massachusetts.

Google has reached a settlement in Singular Computing’s $1.6 billion lawsuit accusing the search giant of patent infringement during its development of artificial intelligence (AI) programs.

A notice filed in Massachusetts federal court Wednesday did not disclose the financial terms of the Google patent infringement settlement, but asked for 30 days for the parties to finalize an agreement.

The Google settlement with Singular includes a signed binding term sheet, the parties told U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV.

“We are pleased to have resolved this matter,” Google spokesman José Castañeda said in a statement, Law360 reports. “As we showed in court, Singular’s patent doesn’t apply to our Tensor Processing Units, which were independently designed and built by Google engineers using Google technology over many years.”

Patent infringement claims involved Google machine learning

The alleged Google patent infringement involved machine learning — the process of a program training a computer model from a set of input data.

Google claimed that it did not need Singular’s patented technology for any program or product.

Singular’s patent “is a device using approximate math, which means getting incorrect answers on a regular basis,” Google attorney Robert Van Nest said during opening arguments for the case, according to Law360.

Google agreed to a $700 million settlement in December over accusations that its control of the Google Play Store violated antitrust rules and impeded a free market.

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The plaintiff is represented by Paul J. Hayes, Matthew D. Vella, Kevin Gannon, Daniel McGonagle, Brian Seeve, Robert R. Gilman, Aaron S. Jacobs, Jeffrey Jackson Pyle and Adam R. Doherty of Prince Lobel Tye LLP; and Kerry L. Timbers of Sunstein LLP.

The Google patent infringement settlement is Singular Computing LLC v. Google LLC, Case No. 1:19-cv-12551, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

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