According to reports, the U.S. Deputy Attorney General urged the U.S. Supreme Court, dismissed Apple and Qualcomm’s appeal. It is reported that in a communication patent infringement lawsuit involving Caltech, two companies, Apple and Qualcomm, lost the case, but defied the verdict and sought an appeal along the way.
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Elizabeth Prelogar said that last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has made the right decision on Qualcomm and Apple’s appeal. The appeals court found that Apple had not been able to provide the USPTO with sufficient evidence to prove that Caltech’s patents were invalid.
Caltech has not commented on Prelogar’s latest judicial opinion. No one from Qualcomm, Apple, or the Office of the Deputy Secretary of Prelogar has commented further.
Caltech is located in Pasadena, California, and the aforementioned infringement lawsuit first occurred in 2016, when Caltech filed a complaint in a federal district court in Los Angeles alleging that Apple’s sea of smartphones, tablets and Apple Watch infringed on the Institute’s data transmission patents, in addition to Qualcomm’s Wi-Fi chips.
In addition to Apple and Qualcomm, Caltech reportedly sued Microsoft, Samsung Electronics, Dell Technologies, HP and other companies in separate lawsuits alleging infringement of the same patented technologies mentioned above.
In 2020, the lower court ruled on the lawsuit, requiring Apple to pay $837.8 million to Caltech and Qualcomm to pay $270 million.
Qualcomm and Apple then appealed, and last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that there were problems with the quantum of damages for Apple and Qualcomm’s patent infringement and asked the lower court to reopen the case, but to date, there is no clear timeline for the rehearing.
In the appeals court, Apple and Qualcomm said they should have had the authority to challenge the validity of Caltech’s communications patents, but the court denied the companies’ request. The appeals court noted that earlier, Apple could have faced the U.S. Patent Office with a request and argument to reexamine the validity of Caltech’s patents, but Apple did not do so.
The companies said the Federal Circuit misread U.S. patent law, which only prohibits some arguments during the patent examination stage.
Prelogar said there was no problem with the federal appeals court’s reading of the law.
