U.S. Supreme Court requests government views on the blockbuster Apple/Caltech Patent Dispute

By Blake Brittain

(Reuters) – Tuesday’s U.S. Supreme Court hearing was on behalf of the Biden administration. It asked about Apple Inc. and Broadcom Inc.’s plans to revive their challenges against patents owned California Institute of Technology. This is a dispute in the course of which Caltech had previously received $1.1 billion in damages.

The justices requested the U.S. solicitor General’s input on a lower court ruling that barred Apple and Broadcom from arguing that the patents were invalid.

Caltech has not commented on the Supreme Court’s decision. Broadcom and Apple representatives did not respond to our requests for comment.

Caltech, located near Pasadena in California, sued Apple-based Cupertino and Broadcom-based San Jose in Los Angeles in 2016. They claimed that millions upon iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and other devices using Broadcom Wi-Fi chips had infringed their data-transmission patents.

Caltech won the case. The jury ordered Apple to pay $837.8 millions and Broadcom to make payment of $270.2 million. The U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit raised concerns about the award and sent the case back to the Federal Circuit for a fresh trial on damages. This is scheduled for June.

Broadcom and Apple also informed the Federal Circuit that they should be allowed to challenge the validity of the patents at trial. Patent-focused appeals court affirmed the decision of the trial judge to stop the companies from making arguments, as they could have raised them during their petitions for U.S. Patent and Trademark Office examination of the patents.

In September last year, the companies appealed this decision to the Supreme Court. They claimed that the Federal Circuit misunderstood law. The justices said that only arguments that could be raised during the review, and not in the petition, were barred by the law.

Caltech also sued Microsoft Corp., Samsung Electronics Co., Dell Technologies Inc., and HP Inc., accusing them in separate cases of infringing patents that are still pending.

Apple is a major buyer of Broadcom chips and reached a $15 Billion supply agreement in January 2020 with the company. Apple plans to replace Broadcom’s chips in 2025 with its own design.

Broadcom estimates that Apple accounts for 20% of its revenue.

Apple Inc. v. California Institute of Technology. U.S. Supreme Court. No. 22-203.

For Apple and Broadcom: Bill Lee of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr

For Caltech: Kathleen Sullivan of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan

(NOTE – This story has been updated so that Caltech does not have any comment about the order.

Learn more

Broadcom and Apple win new trial in $1.1 billion Caltech patent case

Broadcom and Apple patent cases win $1.1 billion jury verdict for CalTech