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Apple Dealt Legal Blow as Jury Awards Qualcomm $31 Million (cnet.com)
Apple violated three Qualcomm patents and should pay the chipmaker $31 million for infringing on its technology, a jury decided Thursday, giving Qualcomm momentum as it heads into another legal skirmish with the iPhone maker next month. From a report: Qualcomm, which filed the suit in July 2017, alleged Apple had used its technology without permission in some versions of its popular iPhone. The jury awarded Qualcomm the full amount it requested at the start of the two-week trial, which was held in San Diego. One disputed Qualcomm patent covers technology that lets a smartphone quickly connect to the internet once the device is turned on. Another deals with graphics processing and battery life. The third addresses technology that shifts traffic between a phone's apps processor and modem. The $31 million in damages -- or $1.41 per infringing iPhone -- is a drop in the bucket for Apple, a company that briefly became a $1 trillion company last year. But it marks an important victory for Qualcomm, burnishing its reputation as a mobile components innovator. The win also lends credibility to the notion that much of the company's innovation is reflected in iPhones.
$31 million is like a couple of hours of profit for Apple. This is a slap on the wrist.
I read the internet for the articles.
They can still sue them for patent infringement if they don't license their patents.
The alternative would be not getting anything at all. I'm not a fan of patents but I can understand their rationale.
Why does everybody like it so much when Apple takes one on the legal chin? Two words: "round corners".
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
The summary's comment that this ruling is "giving Qualcomm momentum" strikes me as being rather clueless. This $31 million judgment is coming the day after a preliminary ruling against Qualcomm that says they owe Apple all $1 billion in rebates that they promised—but failed— to pay Apple. That's the case that matters. Suggesting this $31M ruling is giving them momentum in the $1B case that's already been ruled against them on a preliminary basis is like saying that a fly can change the course of a car by smashing into its windshield.
Moreover, Apple issued software updates months ago that worked around all of the claims. Qualcomm's experts even acknowledged in court that Apple wasn't still violating them, so they have no impact on Apple's future business, and they certainly don't have any impact on a case regarding whether Apple is owed the $1B that Qualcomm was contractually obligated to pay.