Apple has decided to challenge a legal decision that could see it pay up to 625.5 million dollars in fines for infringing several patents, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

The firm's decision came after a federal jury in Tyler, Texas found Apple had infringed on three patents belonging to a company called Mirror Worlds in products including its iPod, iPhone and Macintosh computers.

The jury awarded Mirror Worlds 208.5 million dollars in damages for each patent infringement, but the verdict has not been formally entered by the judge overseeing the case.

Apple filed an emergency motion on Sunday seeking to stall the process, the Times reported.

Apple is arguing that it would be wrong for the jury to force it to pay three separate fines for the infringements, which are related in part to the way files are displayed on the company's popular tech devices.

If the fines stand, Apple faces a payment that would be one of the largest patent awards in US history, the newspaper said. Apple declined to comment.

earlier related report
US consumers snapping up Android phones: survey
Washington (AFP) Oct 05, 2010 - Smartphones powered by Google's Android software were the most popular among US consumers over the past six months ahead of the Blackberry and Apple's iPhone, the Nielsen Co. said on Tuesday.

Thirty-two percent of new smartphone buyers in the United States purchased a handset running Android during the period, Nielsen said.

Twenty-six percent chose the Blackberry operating system from Canada's Research in Motion and 25 percent chose the iPhone, Nielsen said.

Nielsen said that among all US smartphone owners, Blackberry remains the leader with a 31 percent share of the market followed by the iPhone with a 28 percent share and Android with 19 percent, up from eight percent in January.

Blackberry's market share has fallen from 36 percent in January to its current 31 percent while the iPhone's has remained steady.

Technology research firm Gartner said last month that Android will become the number two mobile operating system worldwide this year, leapfrogging BlackBerry and challenging market leader Nokia's Symbian by 2014.

Gartner said Symbian and Android will account for 59.8 percent of mobile operating system sales by 2014.

Gartner said it expected handset manufacturers such as Samsung to launch a number of budget devices in the second half of the year using Android, and for other players such as Sony Ericsson, LG and Motorola to follow suit.

"This trend should help Android become the top OS in North America by the end of 2010," Gartner said.

Skype announced meanwhile that it was making its Internet communications service available for some Android-powered phones including HTC and Motorola devices.

It said a Skype application that can be downloaded at skype.com/m will allow free Skype-to-Skype calls and instant messaging.