The Waco Division of the US District Court for the Western District of Texas on Wednesday held that Google did not infringe a digital photo frame patent owned by the Texas-based Profectus Technology LLC (“Profectus”).

Profectus sued Google in February 2020 alleging that the Google Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max are digital picture display frames that infringe a patent that Profectus owns.

The patent, U.S. Patent No. 6,975,308, is for either a wall mounted or desktop picture frame that displays digital images from a digital camera. The Google Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max are smart devices that have the capabilities of displaying digital images, but they also perform other functions and must be connected to the internet.

The jury found that Google did not infringe upon Profectus’s digital photo frame patent. Judge Alan Albright instructed the jury that it could find Profectus’s patent invalid if its innovations had already been disclosed in previous devices or publications. The jury then found that Google did not willfully infringe the patent. 

In 2016, Profectus sued other technology companies, including Huawei Technologies and Dell, for allegedly infringing upon its patent for a mountable digital picture frame for displaying still digital images. Profectus was similarly unsuccessful in that case—a federal appeals court affirmed a summary judgment of non-infringement in 2016.