“Apple and Qualcomm kicked off the latest chapter in a long-running legal battle over patents and licensing agreements in the chipmaker’s hometown of San Diego, California, on Monday,” Richard Nieva reports for CNET.
“Qualcomm, which supplies chips and modems for much of the mobile phone industry, says Apple infringed on three of its patents in some versions of the popular iPhone,” Nieva reports. “The chipmaker wants up to $1.41 per iPhone that infringed on its intellectual property sold during a certain period between 2017 and 2018. The exact figure was not disclosed, though it’s estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars.”
“During opening remarks, both sides zoomed in on the patent that focuses on boot-up technology when the phone is turned on. [David Nelson, the lead attorney representing Qualcomm] said the technology in the patent was ‘foundational’ to the company’s work, long before it was registered. Apple claims Qualcomm stole the idea for that innovation from then-Apple engineer Arjuna Siva, who the company said discussed the idea with Qualcomm engineers in an email,” Nieva reports. “‘This one is truly the most outrageous allegation in the case,’ Juanita Brooks, lead counsel for Apple, said of the infringement claim in opening statements. ‘They took the idea from us and ran down to the patent office.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Qualcomm is a piece of work alright.
SEE ALSO:
The Qualcomm v. Apple patent jury won’t get these simple, brutally honest instructions – March 5, 2019
Apple patent application reveals foldable iPhone with self-heating display, lock-out mechanism to protect against cold weather damage – February 28, 2019
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Huawei’s new foldable ‘Mate X’ smartphone starts at $2,600 – February 25, 2019
Concept design envisions what a foldable iPhone would look like – February 23, 2019
One of the main problems with Samsung’s Galaxy Fold is that it doesn’t really fold – February 22, 2019
Most analysts expect Apple to wait until 2020 to offer a foldable iPhone – February 21, 2019
Samsung announces foldable 4.6- to 7.3-inch ‘Galaxy Fold’ phone with giant off-center notch, starts at $1,980 – February 20, 2019
Xiaomi reveals dual-folding smartphone prototype (with video) – January 23, 2019
Samsung’s foldable Galaxy phone will cost ‘twice the price of a premium phone’ – January 18, 2019
Lenovo planning to resurrect Razr as a foldable $1,500 cellphone – January 17, 2019
Corning’s bendable Gorilla Glass glass could shape the foldable phones of the future – December 6, 2018
Can foldable phones help Samsung copy Apple? – November 7, 2018
Apple granted a second patent for a folding iPhone with flexible hinge – October 16, 2018
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BoA Merrill Lynch: Apple is prepping a ‘foldable’ iPhone; U.S. and China trade tensions not an issue for Apple – March 23, 2018
Apple seeks patent for a foldable iPhone – November 28, 2017
Apple teams up with LG Display for foldable iPhone due to concerns over tech leaks to Samsung – October 11, 2017
Apple, LG Display discuss OLED display deal for 2019 – September 7, 2017
LG Display to supply OLED panels to Apple – July 31, 2017
Apple to invest $2.70 billion in LG Display’s OLED production – July 28, 2017
Apple and LG Display plan to derail Samsung’s OLED expansion plans – July 25, 2017
LG Display to invest $3.56 billion in flexible OLED plant – May 30, 2017
Apple patent details foldable iPhone – January 26, 2017
Apple granted U.S. patent for bendable or foldable iPhone using advanced carbon nanotube structures – November 1, 2016
Apple is granted another patent for new flexible handset design – November 22, 2016
[Attribution: AppleInsider. Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Ooh they got that idea from Edison obviously, little is truly new in technology it seems.
Unfortunately, the U.S. is now a “First to File” country like most of the rest of the world. (The U.S. used to be a “First to Invent” country which most true inventors liked but major corporations hated.) While it may be unethical (and possibly, legally contravene any Non Disclosure Agreement that may exist between Qualcomm and Apple), it is not illegal to hear of an idea and implementation from an outside source and then file for a patent for an implementation of that. As long as the originator has not made the idea and implementation public then it really comes down to “First to File”.
Apple’s legal team attacking Qualcomm on filing for a patent first is a dumb way to attack this issue. The jurors may side with Apple on ethics, but Qualcomm may have the law on Qualcomm’s side. They way Apple’s crack legal team (extreme sarcasm) needs to attack it is to show that Qualcomm had no legal right to the information as it was under an NDA and thus no legal right to take the information and file for a patent on it. That would invalidate the patent as, in part of the patent process, the inventor must certify that he/she has legal rights to the idea and implementation in order to file for the patent.
But Apple doesn’t want the patent, they just want to invalidate it. By showing prior art, or prior emails, they can invalidate a patent that Qualcomm is trying to use to extract royalties from Apple.
Day one!