In a lawsuit dating back several years, Apple has now been ordered to fork over millions of dollars.
Apple and Broadcom have been ordered to pay $1.1 billion to the California Institute of Technology for infringing on various patents that relate to WiFi transmissions. Bloomberg was first to report the ruling, which will see Apple forking over $838 million and Broadcom forced to pay $270 million.
You will not be surprise to hear that Apple is planning to appeal this decision, which means that number Apple is ordered to pay now could change in some way at some point in the future.
Caltech’s lawsuit against Apple and Broadcom dates back to 2016 when the institute said that Apple was infringing on four patents used by the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, the Apple Watch, and Apple’s Airport routers. At the time, Caltech was seeking permanent and preliminary injunctions in the United States against Apple in the products that were using its technologies. Caltech also sought a jury trial.
Apple and Broadcom did what they could to not reach this point, including filing counter claims against Caltech and trying to get the initial patents invalidated. Apple’s argument was that Caltech had simply waited too long to file their suit against the company.
As mentioned earlier, Apple will appeal this decision and the legal battle will continue. Still, that’s a lot of money, so it will be interesting to see just how much it changes — if at all.