Patent lawsuit: Apple to pay 700 million US dollars over LTE technology
Apple is to pay a Texas rights holder more than ten times what was stipulated in an earlier judgment. The case concerns 4G mobile communications.
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Apple is facing a payment of more than 700 million US dollars to the Texan mobile phone rights holder Optis for the unlicensed use of allegedly standard-essential patents in the iPhone. The sum is made up of a total of 502 million dollars in fees for the use of the technology plus a further almost 200 million in interest since 2014. The lawsuit was filed in the UK in 2019 and is now being heard on appeal by the Royal Courts of Justice in London (case number CA-2024-0006).
Billions were at stake
Optis Cellular Technology LLC, the full name of the rights holder, claims to own patents in the field of LTE aka 4G, which Apple uses for its iPhone. The London High Court had already ruled in 2023 that Apple had to pay around 56.5 million dollars. However, the sum has now been significantly increased. At one point, the amount was even in the billions and Apple even considered leaving the British market.
Apple intends to appeal the decision of the England and Wales Court of Appeal. The company is disappointed with the outcome of the proceedings, the company told Reuters news agency. Optis does not manufacture any products and its sole business purpose is to sue companies with the patents it has bought up.
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"Clearly flawed judgment"
Optis, for its part, told Macrumors that the appeals court had corrected a clearly erroneous ruling and had taken steps to determine "the true value of our patents to Apple devices". The Optis technology ensures"high-speed connections for millions of devices around the world". Optis and Apple are not only in dispute in London, but also in Texas.
The next step for Apple in the UK is to appeal to the UK Supreme Court. The success for Optis in the UK opens up new legal possibilities in Texas, where hundreds of millions of dollars could also be at stake. This case was initially frozen while the British legal dispute was pending. However, according to the specialist portal ip fray, the London judge responsible no longer sees a problem in the fact that both cases are ongoing.
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