“Days before the sudden settlement between Apple and Qualcomm, a German appeals court had preliminarily annulled the latter’s most significant courtroom victory over the former, as I found out today,” Florian Mueller writes for FOSS Patents.
“After months of briefing and in-depth analysis, the Oberlandesgericht München (Munich Higher Regional Court) granted a motion by Apple to stay the enforcement of a Germany-wide patent injunction Qualcomm had obtained from the Landgericht München I (Munich Regional Court). Apple had worked around that injunction anyway, and its effects were as minimal as they were short-lived,” Mueller writes. “But the implications for patent enforcement in Germany — a sizable market in which injunctions have so far (change may be coming soon) been granted as a near-automatic legal remedy.”
“Now, after almost four months, there’s justice. Apple’s lead counsel in this action, Hoyng Rokh Monegier’s Klaus Haft, who is regarded as one of Germany’s best patent litigators, brought a motion back in December asking the appeals court, the Munich Higher Regional Court, to stay the enforcement of Qualcomm’s injunction pending the appeal. That appeal won’t be resolved anymore after yesterday’s global settlement,” Mueller writes. “Nut I’ve been able to receive official confirmation from a spokeswoman (an appellate judge in her main capacity) for the Munich Higher Regional Court that Mr. Haft’s motion had been granted because Presiding Judge Konrad Retzer’s panel of three appellate judges determined (on a preliminary basis since a final appellate opinion would require full-blown appellate proceedings) that the lower court had erred in three ways.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Sham goes down in defeat once again.
SEE ALSO:
German court stays Qualcomm patent infringement suit against Apple; patent-in-suit likely invalid – February 26, 2019
Apple’s workaround for German fake injunction exacerbates Qualcomm’s antitrust woes – February 14, 2019
Apple resumes selling iPhones in Germany, but with only Qualcomm modems – February 14, 2019
South Korean Supreme Court upholds $242 million antitrust judgement against Qualcomm – February 12, 2019
Bad news piles up for Qualcomm in Apple dispute – February 10, 2019
Apple wins damages ruling against Qualcomm – February 5, 2019
U.S. FTC: Evidence is ‘overwhelming’ that Qualcomm engaged in exclusionary, anticompetitive conduct – January 30, 2019
Leaked emails reveal new reason why Apple went to war with Qualcomm – January 18, 2019
Apple’s COO Jeff Williams delivers blistering testimony on Qualcomm’s ‘onerous demands’ – January 15, 2019
Apple was paying Qualcomm over $1 billion per year in licensing – January 15, 2019
This settlement came about because the terms of the settlement were good for everyone, although no one got everything they wanted.
Apple got far better financial terms.
Qualcomm protected its business model (just not the pricing they previously got from Apple) and Apple’s future business for at least 6 years.
Given the way the market reacted so favorably to Qualcomm’s shares, I’d say WS was not expecting a favorable Qualcomm outcome had this gone to the jury.
I tend to think you are right. Qualcomm were given a lifeline by Intel’s total inability to get onto the 5G wagon and of course Apple’s own efforts likely taking years to come to fruition. Indeed I suspect the latter’s impetus was influenced by the former and the sudden ‘mutual agreement’ between Apple and Qualcomm.
The compromise I suspect though probably uncomfortable for both parties, will protect the business of each into the foreseeable future. Qualcomm gets big payments though less than they were almost certainly, with the time and confidence around them to rebuild their business model into the future and to avoid further unwelcome bids. Apple has to swallow higher payments than they wanted and probably thought they could achieve, had this gone to its climax, but simply did not have the time to let it play out due to Intel’s usual incompetence, so had to compromise too. A disappointing result for most of the World but probably sensible for both. I suspect that this is not the real end game however just a delay depending upon both the findings of the investigation into Qualcomm and Apples eventual production of its one 5G chips assuming that is still the plan.
One other thing this may be relevant to will be Apples patience in dealing with Intel for its Mac chips. I suspect they can’t wait to break free from that tether and this can only increase the desire to do so and the commitment to do so.