The United States Supreme Court has rejected Apple’s bid for an appeal as part of its legal battle against Qualcomm. Apple settled its legal battle with Qualcomm in 2019, but its challenge of two patents was allowed to continue. Ultimately, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board ruled in favor Qualcomm.
Apple vs Qualcomm battle finally over (for now)
Apple and Qualcomm settled their multi-billion lawsuit in 2019, on day one of the trial kicking off. As part of the settlement, Apple made a payment to Qualcomm, and the two reached a six-year license agreement that runs until 2025. There’s also a two-year option to extend that agreement.
Despite the settlement, Apple proceeded in its efforts to challenge the validity of two of Qualcomm’s patents with the Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board. The licensing agreement reached as part of the settlement covered tens of thousands of Qualcomm patents, including the two being challenged by Apple.
As explained by Reuters today, Apple’s request to challenge the validity of the two patents, however, was decided in favor of Qualcomm. Apple then appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which dismissed the appeal on the basis that Apple “lacked standing to pursue the matter because of the settlement.”
In its filings through the appeal and challenging process, Apple argued that its “royalty payments and risk of being sued again justified hearing the case on the merits.” Apple took this argument all the way to the US Supreme Court.
Qualcomm, for its part, said that Apple “had not shown any concrete injury that would give it proper legal standing.” The Biden Administration also asked the Supreme Court to reject Apple’s appeal in April.
Apple told the Supreme Court that it still faced the risk of litigation after the agreement expires in 2025, or in 2027 if the settlement term is extended. Qualcomm already sued once, has “not disclaimed its intention to do so again,” and has a “history of aggressively enforcing its patents,” Apple said.
That brings us to today. The US Supreme Court has officially rejected to hear Apple’s effort to continue litigation in regards to the validity of the two Qualcomm patents.
With today’s decision to reject Apple’s bid for a hearing, the battle between Apple and Qualcomm is officially wrapped (for now). As explained, the current licensing agreement runs until 2025 with the option of being extended to 2027.
What happens come to 2025 and/or 2027 remains to be seen. Apple’s concern is that it could face additional litigation from Qualcomm, seemingly if another licensing agreement can’t be reached.
Apple, however, will have more power in 2025 than it did during the initial litigation in 2019. In 2019, Apple was in the process of upgrading the iPhone to 5G connectivity — and it needed Qualcomm’s modems to do so.
Since then, however, Apple has acquired Intel’s smartphone modem business as part of a $1 billion deal between the two companies. Apple is in the process of developing its own 5G modems that it can use in the iPhone as soon as 2023.
Having the ability to use its own modems in the iPhone means Apple will have a lot more power in any sort of negotiating and litigation with Apple, even if it still needs to license certain patents from Qualcomm.
