Caltech ends high-stakes US patent fight with Apple and Broadcom
By Blake Brittain
(Reuters) — The California Institute of Technology has reached an agreement to end a patent lawsuit against Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) over Wi-Fi chips, according to a filing in California federal court.
Pasadena, California-based Caltech sued Apple and Broadcom in 2016, alleging that millions of iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches and other Apple devices using Broadcom chips infringed its wireless-communication patents.
Caltech said in the Wednesday filing that it would dismiss the billion-dollar case with prejudice, which means that it cannot be refiled.
Both sides told the court in August that they had reached a «potential settlement» without disclosing additional details. Representatives for Caltech, Apple and Broadcom did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
A jury ordered Apple to pay $837.8 million and Broadcom to pay $270.2 million in patent-infringement damages in 2020.
A U.S. appeals court overturned the award last year and ordered a new trial on damages, finding the amount was «legally unsupportable.» A trial that had been scheduled to start this June was postponed indefinitely in May.
Caltech settled a related lawsuit against Samsung (KS:005930) in August. The university has also sued Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Dell (NYSE:DELL) and HP (NYSE:HPQ) over its Wi-Fi patents in cases that are still pending.
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