The California Institute of Technology (CalTech) was awarded €1.100 billion after a US federal court ruled that Broadcom and Apple had infringed the university's intellectual property. The organization alleged that Broadcom's Wi-Fi chips used in Apple's iPhone used innovations described in patents related to data technology. Broadcom specializes in wireless communication chips for smartphones and other devices.
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The court agreed with CalTech and ordered Apple to pay €837.8 million in damages, while Broadcom had to pay €270.2 million. According to Reuters, the two companies plan to appeal the decision. Apple had argued that the violations described by CalTech were related to Broadcom technology and that it was only a customer of the chipmaker. This, he said, meant that the university's complaint was against Broadcom. CalTech praised the verdict after first filing the lawsuit in Los Angeles in 2016. "We are delighted that the jury found that Apple and Broadcom had infringed Caltech's patents," he said. "As a not-for-profit institution of higher education, Caltech is committed to protecting its intellectual property as part of its mission to expand human knowledge and benefit society through research integrated into education." Apple is one of Broadcom's biggest customers. Although owned by Avago in Singapore since 2016, Broadcom repatriated its headquarters to the United States in 2018. Via Reuters