IBM Wins $45 Million Over Zynga Games’ Infringing Two Patents

Zynga Inc. must pay IBM Corp. $44.9 million after a federal jury in Delaware found the company’s Empires & Puzzles mobile game infringed two now-expired patents related to optimized advertising and data processing, and nine other games also infringed one of them.

Four of the 10 Zynga games that infringed US Patent No. 7,072,849 are from the popular FarmVille franchise and one is from the Words With Friends franchise, according to a verdict issued Friday in the US District Court for the District of Delaware. Empires & Puzzles also infringed US Patent No. 7,702,719, the verdict said.

Jurors upheld ...