Caltech wins $1.1 billion from Apple, Broadcom
Nearly four years after filing its suit, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has won a $1.1 billion jury verdict in a patent suit against Apple and Broadcom.
The California-based university had claimed that the Broadcom Wi-Fi chips used in millions of Apple products infringed patents relating to data transmission technology.
On Wednesday, January 29, a jury found that Apple and Broadcom had infringed four patents, US numbers 7,116,710; 7,421,032; 7,916,781; and 8,284,833, which were granted between 2006 and 2012.
The jury awarded the university $837.8 million from Apple, and $270.2 million from Broadcom, based on a calculation of how much Caltech would have licensed the patents for, according to Caltech’s lawyers, cited in AppleInsider.
Both companies have said they will appeal against the decision, although no time-frame for the appeals has been revealed.
Apple claimed to be an “indirect downstream party,” according to the court documents cited in media outlets, while Broadcom said in a statement that it disagreed with the “factual and legal bases for the verdict”. Broadcom is a major Apple technology supplier.
“We are pleased the jury found that Apple and Broadcom infringed Caltech patents. As a non-profit institution of higher education, Caltech is committed to protecting its IP in furtherance of its mission to expand human knowledge and benefit society through research integrated with education,” said Caltech in a statement sent to Reuters.
Caltech filed the original lawsuit at the US District Court for the Central District of California in May 2016, alleging that Apple had “knowingly used” and advertised gains from the university’s patented technology, which had been used in the iPhone 5 “onwards”.
The 802.11n and 802.11ac standards cover wireless transmission between a router and a device, such as a smartphone or a laptop. Caltech said at the time that the patents were “integral” to the two standards.
Apple, Broadcom and Caltech have been contacted for additional comments.
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