Apple will have to pay $300 million for infringement of wireless technology patents, according to a court ruling. The company was facing trial against a patent infringement lawsuit filed by PanOptis, an intellectual property filing organisation. While Apple had filed for a retrial for the third time, the court dismissed the request and stood by its verdict on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed by Optis Wireless Technology LLC and its affiliate companies PanOptis and Unwired Planet back in 2019. The company holds patents for common and essential international LTE wireless standards.
Optis alleged that the 4G LTE versions of Apple’s iPhones, iPad and Apple Watches infringed the patent rights. The verdict was announced last year in their favour with the jury deciding that the Cupertino tech giant pay $506 million in damage. However, the court decided to hear the matter a second time after evidence was submitted that Optis was required to offer licenses to their patents on fair terms.
While the court has upheld its view that Apple did infringe the patent rights, the jury revised the amount to be paid to $300 million. Apple had filed a new trial to get the damages written off completely, but their request was denied by the courts.
Trouble in the UK too
There is also another lawsuit filed by Optis in the UK as well against Apple. The allegations involve the same patent infringements. However, the lawsuit is ongoing and the verdict may be announced by July this year. In June 2021, the court ruled that Apple had infringed 2 of the patents and that Apple is liable to pay a fee. While the amount has not been announced, industry experts it could be up to $7 billion.
Apple’s legal team have raised concerns that they may leave the UK market entirely if the UK court orders the company to pay “commercially unacceptable” fees. Apple may even be banned from selling any of its cellular-enabled devices in the UK if it refuses to pay the amount.
Apple in India
Apple has been slowly entering the Indian markets and has seen immense growth in smartphone sales. It also recently began locally producing the iPhone 13 this year. It will be interesting to see how the smartphones will be priced in the future once the company can streamline its supply chain as well.
The company, along with Google, could face some pressure from India as well after a recent study by ADIF. The trade body alleged that many developers in India are facing the hurdle of submitting their apps to online stores due to the high fees charged by both platforms.
