CalTech awarded $1.1 billion from Apple and Broadcom in Wi-Fi patent lawsuit

Apple is in trouble again over patent infringement by one of its chip suppliers. A jury has awarded the California Institute of Technology a $1.1 billion compensation from Apple and Broadcom for infringing on CalTech’s Wi-Fi patents.

The bulk of the sum is owed by Apple, $837.8 million, while Broadcom is on the hook for $270.2 million. Apple called itself “merely an indirect downstream party” (trying to shift the blame onto Broadcom) and plans to appeal the verdict. Broadcom will appeal too.

The relationship between Apple and Broadcom is important for both companies. Just last week the chip maker signed a deal worth $15 billion. Also, Apple accounts for a fifth of Broadcom’s revenue.

A year ago, Qualcomm successfully won a suit against chip suppliers Qorvo and Intel, which led to the ban of iPhone 7 and 8 models.

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