Apple vs. Qualcomm Jury Includes Retired MLB Pitcher and Woman Who's Never Owned a Smartphone

Apple's high-profile trial against chipmaker Qualcomm kicked off in San Diego federal court on Monday with jury selection.

apple v qualcomm
Among the nine jurors selected are a former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Kansas City Royals, a woman who has never owned a smartphone, a retired clinical psychologist, a pilot, an accountant, a retired nurse, and an environmental consultant, according to reports from CNET and Bloomberg.

Opening statements will be heard today. Apple has accused Qualcomm of anticompetitive business practices by way of demanding excessive patent royalties, while Qualcomm alleges that Apple manufacturers Foxconn, Pegatron, Wistron, and Compal owe it more than $7.5 billion in unpaid royalties.

Apple already won a preliminary judgment ordering Qualcomm to pay nearly $1 billion in withheld rebates last month.

Qualcomm has already faced scrutiny from antitrust regulators in multiple countries, including the United States, where an FTC lawyer said "evidence is overwhelming that Qualcomm engaged in exclusionary conduct, and the effects of Qualcomm's conduct, when considered together, are anticompetitive."

Amidst the legal battle, Apple dropped Qualcomm as a supplier of cellular modems starting with last year's iPhone XS, ‌iPhone‌ XS Max, and ‌iPhone‌ XR, switching to Intel for all modems in those devices.

Top Rated Comments

AngerDanger Avatar
64 months ago
Among the nine jurors selected are a former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Kansas City Royals, a woman who has never owned a smartphone, a retired clinical psychologist, a pilot, an accountant, a retired nurse, and an environmental consultant, according to reports from CNET ('https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-v-qualcomm-jury-includes-pilot-former-mlb-pitcher-nurse/') and Bloomberg ('https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-16/apple-qualcomm-jury-includes-woman-who-s-never-owned-smartphone').
Bahahaha, I love how every other jury member is described by their occupation whereas this poor lady gets "never owned a smartphone."

"Sure, I never own a smartphone, but I moonlight as having never owned a game console. The pay is decent, but neither of these occupations were by any means recession-proof."
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dannyyankou Avatar
64 months ago
So? It doesn't matter if she's never owned a smartphone, as long as she has an understanding of patent laws. If anything, this means she'll be unbiased.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
4487549 Avatar
64 months ago
this show will be better than any of their original programming
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nikaru Avatar
64 months ago
I legitimately envy the woman who’s never owned a smartphone. They’ve turned society into a bunch of zombies.
Sure!

Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
palmerc2 Avatar
64 months ago
I legitimately envy the woman who’s never owned a smartphone. They’ve turned society into a bunch of zombies.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tobefirst ⚽️ Avatar
64 months ago
I legitimately envy the woman who’s never owned a smartphone. They’ve turned society into a bunch of zombies.
You're free to give yours up anytime you want, you know.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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