Apple and Broadcom have jointly filed counterclaims against the California Institute of Technology in an ongoing Wi-Fi-related lawsuit, denying any alleged infringement of the technologies and urging the court to invalidate the asserted patents, according to court documents filed electronically this week.

Caltech-Wi-Fi
Apple argued that Caltech did not file the lawsuit until May 26, 2016, more than six years after the publication of the 802.11n wireless standard, and thereby the time limit to collect damages has passed under U.S. law. It also argued that Caltech does not make, use, or sell any product that practices any claim of the asserted patents.

Caltech's patents, granted between 2006 and 2012, are highly technical and relate to IRA codes that utilize simpler encoding and decoding circuitry for improved data transmission rates and performance. The technologies are implemented in both the 802.11n and 802.11ac Wi-Fi standards used by many Apple products.

The asserted patents include U.S. Patent No. 7,116,710, U.S. Patent No. 7,421,032, U.S. Patent No. 7,916,781, and U.S. Patent No. 8,284,833.

In a May 2016 court filing with the U.S. District Court for Central California, Caltech accused Apple of selling various Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch models, along with other Wi-Fi products, that incorporate those IRA/LDPC encoders and/or decoders and thereby infringe upon the four asserted patents in question.

Apple provided a series of other defenses, including Caltech's failure to disclose prior art, which is any information or evidence that might be relevant to a patent's claims of originality, with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In this case, Apple said Repeat-Accumulate codes ("RA codes") were well known prior to IRA codes.

Apple and Broadcom, one of the company's main suppliers of Wi-Fi chips for select MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch models, have demanded a jury trial in the lawsuit. The case is officially titled "California Institute of Technology v. Broadcom Limited et al" on the docket.

iOS-9-Siri

Apple Settles With Dot 23 Technologies

Dot 23 Technologies, LLC has filed a motion to dismiss a patent lawsuit against Apple with the U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas. The two companies have agreed to settle out of court, but the specific terms of their agreement have not been publicized.

Dot 23, a Texas-based entity that generally fits the description of a "patent troll," filed suit against Apple in January, claiming that Siri on iPhone and iPad violated a trio of its patents related to voice dialing and recognition. The firm was seeking damages of an unspecified amount plus interest and fees in the case.

Top Rated Comments

Thunderhawks Avatar
100 months ago
MUST...DEFEND...APPLE...
MUST ...NOT...UNDERSTAND what is going on.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
techconc Avatar
100 months ago
MUST...DEFEND...APPLE...
He asked a legitimate question... to which you don't have a legitimate reply. In reality, we don't have enough facts to determine who is or is not guilty. Yet, you seem hell bent on convicting Apple without knowing what you're talking about.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
joueboy Avatar
100 months ago
I understand some of the patent lawsuits has a legitimate claim or at least more convincing in certain situations. But what I don't understand is that when I buy components to assemble my product, I'm not supposed to be liable for anything. My payment for that component should have already covered any current or future claim toward such intellectual property. If I decided to put my own gps navigation in my car. Then I bought a monitor and gps chips and the software and the computer to power the device. I shouldn't be paying anymore if the manufacturer already paid to manufacture the components I needed. Just my 2 cents.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Gasu E. Avatar
100 months ago
The lawsuit included Apple and their supplier, Broadcom.

If you buy stolen property, the police can take it away without paying you.
Actually, by the same token, if you bought the end product ("iPhone") from Apple, then you stole the technology in turn, making you equally liable.

The only reason Caltech is not going after you is that you don't have Apple's deep pockets. But you are as guilty as Apple, just too insignificant to be worth anyone's bother.
[doublepost=1470249241][/doublepost]
MUST...DEFEND...APPLE...
Do you have one of those iPhones? Then you received stolen goods. You really should turn yourself in.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
diegov12 Avatar
100 months ago
You do realize apple had nothing to do with that wifi tech, right? That technology is used by brodcom maker of wifi chips for the iphone and other devices, right?
Those is just yet another case of Apple stealing someone else's innovation and refusing to pay.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MikhailT Avatar
100 months ago
Those is just yet another case of Apple stealing someone else's innovation and refusing to pay.
What did they steal exactly?

There's nothing in either cases to confirm anything. In the first case, Apple bought the components from Broadcom and put it in their devices. Apple does not produce its own Wi-Fi chips in any form. In this specific case, it would be Broadcom's stealing someone one else's innovation and shipping it to Apple. Unfortunately, in US, you can still be charged for infringing even if you had no awareness of the infringing parts in the components you buy. You won't be found "willingly infringing" but you will expect to pay some small fines.

As for the other case, a settlement doesn't mean anything in terms of someone's being guilty. In many cases, it may be cheaper to just settle a case even if you're not guilty and even if you think the patents are invalid. Courts are expensive, they often go into tens of millions of dollars if they drag on for too long. For patents that are not even worth it, it's better to settle and get a license that's a fraction of the lawsuit costs.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

reset password request iphone

Warning: Apple Users Targeted in Phishing Attack Involving Rapid Password Reset Requests

Tuesday March 26, 2024 4:34 pm PDT by
Phishing attacks taking advantage of Apple's password reset feature have become increasingly common, according to a report from KrebsOnSecurity. Multiple Apple users have been targeted in an attack that bombards them with an endless stream of notifications or multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in an attempt to cause panic so they'll respond favorably to social engineering. An...
iPhone Home Screen Gradient Blank Spaces 1

Sources: iOS 18 Lets Apps Be Placed Anywhere on Home Screen Grid

Sunday March 24, 2024 1:33 pm PDT by
iOS 18 will give iPhone users greater control over Home Screen app icon arrangement, according to sources familiar with the matter. While app icons will likely remain locked to an invisible grid system on the Home Screen, to ensure there is some uniformity, our sources say that users will be able to arrange icons more freely on iOS 18. For example, we expect that the update will introduce...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Purple

iOS 18: What to Expect From 'Biggest' Update in iPhone's History

Wednesday March 27, 2024 11:10 am PDT by
At least some Apple software engineers continue to believe that iOS 18 will be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. "The iOS 18 update is expected to be the most ambitious overhaul of the iPhone's software in its history, according to people working on the upgrade," wrote Gurman, in a r...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces WWDC 2024 Event for June 10 to 14

Tuesday March 26, 2024 10:02 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference is set to take place from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14. As with WWDC events since 2020, WWDC 2024 will be an online event that is open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. WWDC 2024 will include online sessions and labs so that developers can learn about new...
apple maps 3d feature

Apple Maps May Gain Custom Routes With iOS 18

Tuesday March 26, 2024 3:10 pm PDT by
Apple may be planning to add support for "custom routes" in Apple Maps in iOS 18, according to code reviewed by MacRumors. Apple Maps does not currently offer a way to input self-selected routes, with Maps users limited to Apple's pre-selected options, but that may change in iOS 18. Apple has pushed an iOS 18 file to its maps backend labeled "CustomRouteCreation." While not much is revealed...
iPad Pro 2024 Landscape Camera Feature

New iPad Pro Again Rumored to Feature Landscape Front-Facing Camera

Monday March 25, 2024 5:43 am PDT by
The next-generation iPad Pro will feature a landscape-oriented front-facing camera for the first time, according to the Apple leaker known as "Instant Digital." Instant Digital reiterated the design change earlier today on Weibo with a simple accompanying 2D image. The post reveals that the entire TrueDepth camera array will move to the right side of the device, while the microphone will...
sonoma desktop wwdc

Apple Releases macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 With Fix for USB Hub Bug

Monday March 25, 2024 10:10 am PDT by
Apple today released macOS Sonoma 14.4.1, a minor update for the macOS Sonoma operating system that launched last September. macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 comes three weeks after macOS Sonoma 14.4. The ‌‌‌‌macOS Sonoma‌‌ 14.4‌.1 update can be downloaded for free on all eligible Macs using the Software Update section of System Settings. There's also a macOS 13.6.6 release for those who...