Oct 18 - Data storage provider Western Digital ( WDC )

must pay $315.7 million in damages for violating a patent

owner's rights in data security technology, a jury in California

federal court said on Friday.

The jury determined that several Western Digital ( WDC )

self-encrypting hard drive products infringe a SPEX Technologies

patent covering data encryption innovations, a SPEX attorney

said in an email.

San Jose, California-based SPEX sued Western Digital ( WDC ) in

2016. SPEX said it bought the patent at issue from Spyrus, a

cryptography company that developed the technology for

encrypting sensitive communications.

The lawsuit said Western Digital ( WDC ) data storage devices

including its Ultrastar, My Book and My Passport products

infringed the patent. Western Digital ( WDC ) denied the allegations.

In July, a different jury in the same Santa Ana, California,

court said Western Digital ( WDC ) owed more than $262 million to

another company for infringing patents related to increasing

hard drive storage capacity.