Jury Rules in Favor of Qualcomm, Says Apple Infringed on Three Qualcomm Patents [Updated]

Apple and Qualcomm this week wrapped up a patent trial where Apple was accused of infringing on three of Qualcomm's patents, and the verdict from the jury is in -- Apple violated Qualcomm's patents in its iPhones.

According to CNET, the jury today sided with Qualcomm and said that Apple needs to pay Qualcomm upwards of $31 million, which is the total that Qualcomm had asked for in damages.

qualcomm iphone 7
The patents in question cover a method for allowing a smartphone to quickly connect to the internet once turned on, graphics processing and battery life, and a method for allowing apps to download data more easily by directing traffic between the processor and modem.

During the trial, Apple argued that one of its engineers, Arjuna Siva, had a hand in inventing the technology included in the first patent mentioned above in an attempt to get the patent invalidated, but the jury did not buy Apple's argument.

Apple will undoubtedly appeal the jury's ruling, and the legal battle between Qualcomm and Apple is far from over. Next month, the two companies will be back in court over a lawsuit that Apple levied against Qualcomm after Qualcomm refused to pay $1 billion in rebate payments.

Yesterday, a preliminary ruling went in Apple's favor, with a U.S. District Judge deciding that Qualcomm is obligated to make the rebate payments to Apple under the terms of the cooperation agreement between the two companies.

Update: In a statement to Bloomberg, Apple said that Qualcomm is trying to distract from "larger issues" with patent infringement claims: "Qualcomm's ongoing campaign of patent infringement claims is nothing more than an attempt to distract from the larger issues they face with investigations into their business practices in US federal court, and around the world."

Popular Stories

AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Friday April 18, 2025 5:16 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
iphone 17 air dummy unbox therapy

iPhone 17 Air's Extreme Thinness Demoed in New Video

Tuesday April 22, 2025 10:22 am PDT by
Apple plans to release an all-new super thin iPhone this year, debuting it alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We've seen pictures of dummy models, cases, and renders with the design, but Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox Therapy today showed off newer dummy models that give us a better idea of just how thin the "iPhone 17 Air" will be. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be ...
iphone 17 dummies sonny dickson

iPhone 17 Air Almost as Thin as Its Buttons, New Images Show

Thursday April 24, 2025 2:14 am PDT by
If you missed the video showing dummy models of Apple's all-new super thin iPhone 17 Air that's expected later this year, Sonny Dickson this morning shared some further images of the device in close alignment with the other dummy models in the iPhone 17 lineup, indicating just how thin it is likely to be in comparison. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be around 5.5mm thick – with a thicker ...
ipad air windows 11 arm

M2 iPad Air Runs Windows 11 ARM via Emulation, Thanks to EU Rules

Tuesday April 22, 2025 5:01 am PDT by
A developer has demonstrated Windows 11 ARM running on an M2 iPad Air using emulation, which has become much easier since the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulations came into effect. As spotted by Windows Latest, NTDev shared an instance of the emulation on social media and posted a video on YouTube (embedded below) demonstrating it in action. The achievement relies on new EU regulatory...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday April 17, 2025 4:12 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
iOS 18

iOS 18.5 Includes Only a Few Changes So Far

Monday April 21, 2025 11:00 am PDT by
Apple seeded the third beta of iOS 18.5 to developers today, and so far the software update includes only a few minor changes. The changes are in the Mail and Settings apps. In the Mail app, you can now easily turn off contact photos directly within the app, by tapping on the circle with three dots in the top-right corner. In the Settings app, AppleCare+ coverage information is more...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 13 New Features

Wednesday April 23, 2025 8:31 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...

Top Rated Comments

nwcs Avatar
80 months ago
1 billion dollar judgment for one side and 31 million dollar for the other side. I think I know which side I’d want to be on.
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
falainber Avatar
80 months ago
1 billion dollar judgment for one side and 31 million dollar for the other side. I think I know which side I’d want to be on.
It's not like that. Apple may get their $1B but it's a part of the cooperation agreement that also includes Apple and its minions paying royalties to Qualcomm. Both Apple and Qualcomm are not paying each other. Qualcomm does not mind to pay their dues as long as Apple pays the royalties. It's Apple that does not want to pay the royalties (in the previously agreed amount) to Qualcomm.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
farewelwilliams Avatar
80 months ago
and tim cook grabs a soggy $31 mil from his shoe
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SecuritySteve Avatar
80 months ago
Patents and copyrights are evil. The notion that the state can enforce this notion of someone "owning" an idea and prevent anyone else from using the same idea is ridiculous and evil. But it's even sadder that so many people have been hoodwinked into buying into this nonsensical, evil idea.
So trying to create law to protect the rights of companies that invest in research and development is evil? Protecting the fruit of that research and development, which companies paid for, is evil? If we couldn't do that, no one would do research and development, and the world would stagnate. Your world view is flawed, sir.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Ries Avatar
80 months ago
So Qualcomm created technologies that allows us to have the network we have today, but Apple doesn't seems to want to contribute to it. They think they pay too much. In the link, replace "Apple" with "Qualcomm", "Music" with "Network" and "Spotify" with "Apple", Apple are such hypocrites.

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/03/addressing-spotifys-claims/
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Fixey Avatar
80 months ago
Apple was quite happy to sign a contract with them when it suited them, the contract stated the amount they pay would be based on the price of the product using there technology and Apple had no issues but today Apple is over charging it’s customers for iPhones and relies it will have to pay more in royalties but Apple is greedy it wants it all and that is wrong they signed a contract, perhaps lower the price of the iPhone oh can’t do that we are Apple we want as much as we can from you for a phone that just looks different but basically just the same you have now just a s on the end and that will cost you ££££ more.

Apple needs be punished hard
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)