To be short, it is billions of US dollars – every year!
People often say “ too large to fall or too big to lose”. But, unfortunately, that’s not the story between Qualcomm and Apple.
Apple is considered one of the world’s largest and most valuable companies. But the giant shape doesn’t intimidate the U.S. Supreme Court in the recent ruling as “The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday 27th June 2022, declined to hear Apple Inc’s bid to revive an effort to cancel two Qualcomm Inc smartphone patents”.
“The justices turned away Apple’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling that the Cupertino, California-based company lacked standing to pursue the matter because of the settlement. Apple had argued that it should be allowed to appeal because San Diego-based Qualcomm could sue again after the settlement ends.”
In 2017, San Diego-based Qualcomm sued Apple in federal court and parallelly filed a complaint to the U.S. International Trade Commission, stating that Apple infringed Qualcomm’s patent regarding iPhones imported into the US. The two companies decided to settle by signing a global agreement with a huge amount of royalties in 2019.
Qualcomm has been renowned as the maker and provider of the processors and chips used in mobile devices, including the iPhone. As a result, the patent in chips and semiconductors allows Qualcomm to extract huge royalties on a wide variety of electronics products ranging from telephones to appliance devices which contain chips. The patent in the chips industry, therefore, is called a diamond mine.
The value of patents in different industries may fluctuate due to the product or service type. Still, in the semiconductor and chips industry, the value of patents is undeniable, unchangeable, and deemed the most valuable asset for companies in these fields. Even after agreeing to resolve the dispute in 2019 and settling a two billion dollar agreement of royalties, Qualcomm and Apple are still head in head in the court as Apple is afraid that Qualcomm can submit claims again Apple after this agreement expires in 2025.
The agreement between Apple and Qualcomm, signed in 2019, “allowed Apple to continue using Qualcomm chips in iPhones. The settlement also featured a license to tens of thousands of Qualcomm patents.”
But, the outcome of recent Apple’s claim is not sweet as a honey apple.
“Apple told the Supreme Court that it still faced the risk of litigation after the agreement expires in 2025 or 2027 if the settlement term is extended. Qualcomm already sued once, has “not disclaimed its intention to do so again,” and has a “history of aggressively enforcing its patents,” Apple said.
And Apple also wants Supreme Court to cancel two Qualcomm Inc smartphone patents, despite these two patents being included in the global settlement between Apple and Qualcomm. However, the Supreme Court considered that Apple provided no concrete evidence for the submitted claims, therefore rejecting Apple’s appeal.
- The article sourced some information from: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/us-supreme-court-wont-hear-apples-bid-to-revive-qualcomm-patent-challenges/ar-AAYV0jr
- The article sourced a image from: applesencia.com
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