Apple, Broadcom to pay billion-dollar fine over iPhone patent infringement
Tech giants must pay $1.1bn to US university following ruling
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The California Institute of Technology (CalTech) has been awarded $1.1 billion after a federal court in the US found Broadcom andApplehad infringed the academic institution’s intellectual property.
The organisation had alleged that Broadcom’s Wi-Fi chips used in Apple’s iPhone used innovations described in patents related to data transmission technology.
Broadcom specialises in wireless communication chips for smartphones and other devices.
iPhone Broadcom
The court agreed with CalTech and ordered Apple to pay $837.8 million in damages, while Broadcom must stump up $270.2 million.
According to Reuters, both companies plan to appeal the ruling. Apple had argued that the infringements described by CalTech related to Broadcom’s technology and that it was only a customer of the chipmaker. This, it said, meant that the university’s grievance was with Broadcom.
CalTech welcomed the verdict, having first filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles back in 2016.
“We are pleased the jury found that Apple and Broadcom infringed Caltech patents,” it said. “As a non-profit institution of higher education, Caltech is committed to protecting its intellectual property in furtherance of its mission to expand human knowledge and benefit society through research integrated with education.”
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Apple is one of Broadcom’s biggest customers. Although owned by Singapore’s Avago since 2016, Broadcom repatriated its headquarters back to the US in 2018.
ViaReuters
Steve McCaskill is TechRadar Pro’s resident mobile industry expert, covering all aspects of the UK and global news, from operators to service providers and everything in between. He is a former editor of Silicon UK and journalist with over a decade’s experience in the technology industry, writing about technology, in particular, telecoms, mobile and sports tech, sports, video games and media.
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