Other similarly massive payouts in tech patent cases include Blackberry (then Research in Motion) paying $612.5 million to patent-holding company NTP in 2006 when it was facing an injunction. In December 2015, Samsung was compelled to pay $548 million as part of the blockbuster Apple v. Samsung cases, and the company ultimately could have to pay more.
Some medical and pharmaceutical patent cases have resulted in even bigger larger payouts. In 2013, Sun Pharmaceuticals and Teva agreed to pay $2.15 billion to resolve a patent lawsuit over Pfizer's Protonix acid-reflux drug. In 2014, Medtronic agreed to pay Edwards Lifesciences at least $1.1 billion in a case involving heart valves. Medtronic was the payor in another massive settlement in 2005, when the company agreed to pay $1.35 billion to a surgeon and his company who sued over spinal surgery patents.
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