Google forced to pay $20 million in damages for infringing on three patents when developing Chrome

Google has been ordered to pay $20 million to two developers for infringing on three patents while designing Google Chrome’s sandboxing modes.

The money was awarded to patent holders Alfonso J Cioffi and the family of Allen Rozman, reports Bleeping Computer. Rozman passed away in 2012, a little after he filed the lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed in 2012 and alleged that Google infringed on four patents of Cioffi’s and Rozman’s patents. Google countered that the patents were “intentionally generic” and that the patent application was phrased as generically as possible so as to broaden its scope. Bleeping Computer also reports that the case hinged around the phrase “web browser process”, which Google claimed was an inadequate description of Chrome’s anti-malware features.

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Sandboxing in a browser involves the isolation of suspicious web content and its execution in a secure environment. Think of it as examining a suspicious parcel in a bomb-proof room. If the parcel does indeed contain a bomb and it goes off, the damage will be contained.

The report states that Google won a ruling in its favour in 2013, but lost an appeal in 2015. It then approached the Supreme Court, but that petition was dismissed and the case was sent to a US District Court in Eastern Texas, where Google lost.

The ruling states that Google will give the patent holders $20 million in damages in the form of “rolling royalties”, which will vary based on Chrome's popularity.