A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday overturned a $481 million ruling that New York’s Columbia University had won against software company Gen Digital for infringing patents related to cybersecurity technology.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said that Columbia’s patents may be invalid and sent the case back to Virginia federal court.
The appeals court also overturned the lower court’s decision to hold Gen Digital’s former law firm, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, in contempt for litigation misconduct in the case.
A Columbia spokesperson declined to comment on the rulings. Spokespeople for Gen Digital and Quinn Emanuel did not immediately respond to requests for comment.