Apple won a patent-infringement case against WiLAN, an intellectual property licensing company, which claims $248 million for the iPhone’s use of patented wireless technology invention used in mobile gadgets.

WiLAN representative Sam Baxter argued that the iPhone manufacturer knows that it requires a license to the patent to use the needed wireless technology but it did not get one from his client.

Baxter, who is from the law firm McKool Smith in Marshall, told Bloomberg, “The competitors were going to eat their lunch. They had to take a license. Think about the 122 million phones they would not be able to sell without a license.”

Other companies granted licenses by WiLAN include HTC, Hewlett-Packard Co. and Novatel Wireless. This left Apple to defend itself from the lawsuit.

Apple denied violating any patents. The company argued that it did not use any new wireless technology on its mobile devices. They got the chips they used for the iPhone from another chip supplier, Qualcomm.

Mark Scarsi of lawfirm Millbank Tweed in Los Angeles told the jury that Wi-Lan wants to get a share from each iPhone purchase for the $4.3 million worth of patent. “They are claiming the entire value of the iPhone, including the charger -- that’s why they are suing Apple and not Qualcomm. You haven’t been fooled. You know what’s right.”

The jury’s decision came out after more than an hour of deliberation: the patent claims are invalid and Apple is not guilty of infringing a wireless technology patent.

Currently the Ottawa-based Wi-Lan is looking at its options after the trial. They do not think that the “previous license agreements signed related to the patents are negatively impacted by this decision.”

An analyst from Cantor Fitzgerald, Justin Kew, said that the conclusion of the case is critical since Wi-Lan has suffered losses from litigation expenses. A resulting agreement with Apple would be very helpful to curb these losses.