US Solicitor General Urges Supreme Court To Reject Appeal of Apple-Caltech Patent Case

US Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar urged the US Supreme Court to reject Apple Inc and Broadcom Inc’s appeal of their $1.1 billion trial loss to the California Institute of Technology in a patent infringement case.

Prelogar said the US. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled correctly when it said that the companies could not seek to invalidate Caltech's patents in court after Apple failed to raise its invalidity arguments at the US Patent Office.

Caltech sued Apple and Broadcom in Los Angeles federal court in 2016 for infringing its data-transmission patents in millions of iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and other devices with Broadcom Wi-Fi chips.

Caltech has also sued Microsoft Corp, Samsung Electronics Co, Dell Technologies Inc, and HP Inc for infringing the same patents in separate cases that are still pending.

A jury in 2020 ordered Apple to pay Caltech $837.8 million and Broadcom to pay $270.2 million. The Federal Circuit took issue with the amount of the award and sent the case back last year for a new trial on damages, which is yet to be scheduled.