Landmark Cases
Patent Battles
The lawsuits that remade industries. Billions at stake, years in courts, and outcomes that changed how IP law works for everyone.
Patent Battle · 2011–2018
Apple vs Samsung
The billion-dollar smartphone patent war that sparked a decade of global IP litigation.
Patent Battle · 2010–2021
Oracle vs Google
The Supreme Court case that defined whether copying an API is copyright infringement — and settled it in Google's favor.
Patent Battle · 2017–2019
Qualcomm vs Apple
A global patent war over modem licensing that ended in a surprise $4.5 billion settlement days before trial.
Patent Battle · 2001–2006
NTP vs RIM
A holding company nearly switched off every BlackBerry in America over wireless-email patents — even as the USPTO was invalidating them.
Patent Battle · 1976–1991
Polaroid vs Kodak
Kodak copied instant photography — and a court erased its entire instant-camera business, plus a then-record $909M verdict.
Patent Battle · 2007–2011
i4i vs Microsoft
A tiny Toronto company won $290M over custom XML in Word — then made the Supreme Court lock in how hard it is to invalidate any patent.
Patent Battle · 2010–2023
VirnetX vs Apple
A licensing firm won $500M+ over FaceTime and VPN patents — forcing Apple to rebuild FaceTime — before the patent office unwound much of it.
Patent Battle · 1999–2013
Eolas vs Microsoft
One patent claimed interactive web content, won $521M, forced browsers to add 'click to activate' — then sued the whole web until it was invalidated.
From PatentBrief
Read the patents that started these wars.
Every one of these cases started with a patent document. Read the original patents in plain English on PatentBrief — and understand exactly what was being protected and what was being fought over.