Patent infringement lawsuit between Caltech and Apple is ending now
The lawsuit started back in 2016 and was a patent infringement case led by Caltech. The institute was accusing Apple of infringing patent technology with the Wi-Fi chips that were made by Broadcom that Apple used.
According to the lawsuit, all Apple products were infringing on the patent, including the iPhone, iPad, Mac, iMac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, HomePod, and even the now-discontinued AirPort routers. The patents were related to Wi-Fi performance and the aspect of balancing speed with heat, power, and chip size.
In 2020, a jury ruled that Apple and Broadcom had infringed on Caltech’s patents. The two companies were to pay a combined $1.1 billion to the university, with Apple having to pay $837.8 million and Broadcom $270.2.
However, as you’d suppose, Apple appealed the ruling. The damages were ruled legally unsustainable. In June 2023, the total amount of damage was to be evaluated again in a new trial, but that trial was indefinitely postponed a month before it started.
Which brings us to the present day. Apple and Broadcom have reached an agreement to settle the patent lawsuits. The details of the settlement are unknown though (the two sides did not disclose those details), but Caltech has agreed to dismiss the case “with prejudice”. This basically means the case cannot be refiled. And yep, it seems like we won’t know what the reached settlement is, at least for now (or maybe forever).
