US carrier Verizon has been ordered to pay patentholder General Access Solutions $847 million.

As reported by The Register, Verizon has been told by a federal jury in East Texas to pay General Access the sum after it had infringed on two patents.

The total figure is made up of a $583m "reasonable royalty" for infringing US Patent No 7,230,931 (the '931) patent, plus a further $264m for infringing the other, 9,426,794 ('794), as per the court's ruling last week.

Verizon allegedly infringed upon 5G and hotspot patents owned by General Access.

General Access had acquired the patents from original inventor, Raze Technologies, and claimed that segments of Verizon's 5G wireless networks, smartphone hotspots, wireless home routers, and MiFi devices violate its intellectual property.

Both patents were originally filed back in 2001.

In the company's initial complaint, it alleges that Verizon's base station equipment infringed its 931 patent, while Verizon's wireless devices that receive 4G and 5G cell signals infringe its ‘794 patent when they route information to mobile stations using 802.11 WiFi communications protocols. 

In response, Verizon said that the patents were invalid due to a lack of written description and/or not being “fully enabled." However, the jury disagreed with this argument.

Verizon told DCD that it would appeal the decision.

"We respect the judicial process but profoundly disagree with this jury's verdict. We will appeal and continue to pursue administrative remedies to supersede today's decision. This is not the end of the matter," said a Verizon spokesperson.

Law 360 has reported that Swedish vendor Ericsson also strongly disagrees with the verdict and said it will back any challenge from Verizon.