Settlement in sight in Caltech patent case against Apple and Broadcom

Court filings in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles show that Caltech has arrived at a “potential settlement” in a patent case against Apple and Broadcom. Caltech alleged that Broadcom’s WiFi chips, used in Apple devices from 2010 until 2017, infringed the university’s chip patents. In 2020 a jury reached a verdict that Apple owed $838mn and Broadcom owed $270mn in damages for patent infringement. In 2022 a US Appeals Court ordered a new trial scheduled for June 2023 on the basis that the damages were “legally unsupportable”. This trial was later postponed after Apple raised new legal issues. The court document stated that the parties will file a joint status report by midday on Friday 18th August.

In commercial tech news, Audi’s head of procurement has stated that chip shortage issues in Germany will impact the nation’s automotive sector for years. Renate Vachenauer discussed the supply chain issues affecting the sector in an interview with the newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine. Semiconductor supply issues have impacted the automotive industry globally since 2020. This played a key factor in Germany’s semiconductor policy plans which have led to billion-dollar chip plant investments from both Intel and TSMC. Vachenauer highlighted that these plants would take a number of years to be operational adding that the industry must use “many levers to stabilize the supply of semiconductors”.

Read more below for a round-up of the other major policy stories currently shaping the tech sector.

The Nikkei reported that Japan plans to introduce tax relief for manufacturers of electric vehicle batteries and semiconductors. The paper reported that the planned changes would take effect in 2024 and follows the introduction of subsidies for chip manufacturers similar to those seen in the US and the EU. The policy is intended to boost economic growth and provide additional control over the supply chain for technologies that are critical to key sectors in the country.

Both the UK and the EU have stated they are examining the US government’s restrictions on investments in China. On Wednesday President Joe Biden signed an executive order allowing the US treasury to curb investments in China in semiconductor, quantum computing and AI industries. Officials in the UK and EU stated that they are examining the risks around foreign investment in China, whilst Beijing has been critical of the US restrictions describing them as “artificial” limitations on free trade.

Cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex has agreed to pay $24mn to settle a US SEC unregistered securities case. The agency filed the lawsuit in April this year alleging violations of US securities law. The exchange filed for bankruptcy in May and is moving towards a liquidation plan in a bankruptcy case. $18.4mn of the settlement relates to disgorgement and will be payable within 60 days of the liquidation plan being implemented. $5.6mn of the settlement is made up of SEC fines. The settlement did not include an admission from Bittrex that the SEC’s allegations were accurate.

The Biden administration made their case before a US Appeals Court on Thursday to remove restrictions on government contact with social media companies. The appeal follows a July decision by a Louisiana judge finding that government agency requests for social media companies to remove content violated the companies’ first amendment rights. The injunction restricting government contact has been paused whilst the appeal is ongoing. The Judicial Panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans was critical of the government’s arguments that companies were never forced to remove content.

Reporting by Nick S. . For a further read try:

What are the regulatory challenges posed by generative AI??by Juliet Baldwin

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