Jury finds Apple owes Qualcomm $31m
Qualcomm secured a victory in the latest skirmish of its long-running fight with Apple late on Friday, March 15, with a jury finding that Apple had infringed three patents.
The US District Court for the Southern District of California jury concluded that Apple owes semiconductor company Qualcomm around $31.6 million for the infringement of US patent numbers 8,838,949; 8,633,936; and 9,535,490.
In July 2017, Qualcomm filed suit against Apple, claiming that the smartphone maker had infringed patents relating to extending battery life.
During the trial, Qualcomm asked the jury to award it royalties of up to $1.41 per infringing iPhone.
The jury followed this, awarding a royalty for the ’936 patent of $0.55 per unit; a royalty for the ’490 patent of $0.42 per unit; and a royalty for the ’949 patent of $0.44 per unit.
Don Rosenberg, executive vice president and general counsel for Qualcomm, said that the verdict is the latest victory in Qualcomm’s worldwide patent litigation, which is directed at holding Apple accountable for using its valuable technologies without paying.
While the award seems to be a relatively small win for Qualcomm, the decision to set a royalty rate per phone could have further implications in the legal dispute between the pair.
“The technologies invented by Qualcomm and others are what made it possible for Apple to enter the market and become so successful so quickly. We are gratified that courts all over the world are rejecting Apple’s strategy of refusing to pay for the use of our IP,” added Rosenberg.
In early 2017, Apple accused the semiconductor company of abusing its monopoly power to gain unfair royalties from Apple’s inventions and claimed that it had been overcharged billions of dollars by Qualcomm.
Qualcomm responded with a counterclaim in April 2017, alleging that Apple had attempted to force Qualcomm to accept “less than fair value” for its IP.
Since then, numerous cases between the pair have appeared on court’s rosters throughout the world.
In December last year, a court in China issued injunctions against Apple after finding older iPhone models violate two Qualcomm patents. In the same month, Qualcomm was granted an injunction banning the sales of some iPhone models in Germany.
However, according to Reuters, the Chinese ban has not been enforced and Apple has taken moves it believes allow it to resume sales in Germany.
In a statement provided to Reuters, Apple said: “Qualcomm’s ongoing campaign of patent infringement claims is nothing more than an attempt to distract from the larger issues they face with investigations into their business practices in US federal court, and around the world.”
Last week, WIPR reported that a preliminary ruling from a US judge concluded that Qualcomm owes Apple nearly $1 billion in patent royalty rebate payments.
According to Judge Gonzalo Curiel of the US District Court for the Southern District of California, there was no evidence that Apple had violated an agreement it had with Qualcomm.
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