As a veteran of the global smart phone wars, Apple(AAPL.O) is used to courtroom battles with fierce competitors such as Samsung and Nokia(NOKIA.HE). This week, however, a federal jury returned a verdict against Apple in a lawsuit brought by a different kind of adversary: a public university. The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s licensing arm, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, convinced a jury that Apple had infringed its patent for improving chip efficiency when the company incorporated the technology into some of its phones and tablets.