Caltech ends high-stakes US patent fight with Apple and Broadcom


FILE PHOTO A man check his phone near an Apple logo outside its store in Shanghai China September 13 2023. REUTERSAly SongFile Photo

FILE PHOTO: A man check his phone near an Apple logo outside its store in Shanghai, China September 13, 2023. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo

(Reuters) - The California Institute of Technology has reached an agreement to end a patent lawsuit against Apple and Broadcom 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 in August. The university has also sued Microsoft, Dell and HP over its Wi-Fi patents in cases that are still pending.

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(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by David Bario and Josie Kao)

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