Report: Biden Administration Sides With Caltech in $1 Billion Lawsuit Win

The U.S. Solicitor General, Elizabeth Prelogar, has urged the Supreme Court to dismiss an appeal by tech giants Apple Inc. and Broadcom Inc. following their $1.1 billion loss to Caltech in a landmark patent infringement case, according to Reuters.

Apple and Broadcom were initially found guilty of infringing Caltech’s data-transmission patents in a lawsuit initiated in 2016. The lawsuit alleged that millions of Apple’s devices, including iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and other devices equipped with Broadcom Wi-Fi chips, had infringed on these patents.

A jury in 2020 ordered Apple and Broadcom to pay Caltech $837.8 million and $270.2 million respectively. 

The Federal Circuit, however, raised concerns over the size of the award and sent the case back for a retrial on damages, the date of which is yet to be scheduled.

The tech companies had argued at the Federal Circuit that they should have been permitted to contest the patents’ validity at trial. Their argument was predicated on the premise that the Federal Circuit misread the law, which, according to them, only bars arguments that could have been raised during the Patent Office review itself. 

However, Prelogar, in her Tuesday brief, asserted that the Federal Circuit had interpreted the law correctly. She also emphasized that the companies could not seek to invalidate Caltech’s patents in court after Apple failed to raise its invalidity arguments at the U.S. Patent Office.

Caltech declined to comment on the Solicitor General’s filing, and representatives for Apple, Broadcom, and the Solicitor General’s office have yet to respond to requests from Reuters for comment.

Caltech is also pursuing separate cases against Microsoft Corp, Samsung Electronics Co, Dell Technologies Inc, and HP Inc for infringing the same patents. These cases are still pending.