A Huge win: Munich Court Throws out Qualcomm Patent Infringement Lawsuit against Apple
It's being report today that the court in Munich Germany ruled to dismiss Qualcomm's patent infringement case against Apple. While it's not the end of the war between Qualcomm and Apple, it's certainly a major blow to Qualcomm.
Germany's Florian Mueller, covering the Qualcomm-Apple war in-depth, reports this morning that the Munich I Regional Court just announced the first final judgment on a Qualcomm v. Apple patent infringement complaint anywhere in the world. Apple (and, by extension, Intel) fended off one of various Qualcomm patent infringement lawsuits. The court agreed with Apple's claim construction.
A few months after the Federal Trade Commission of the United States and, in a separate case, Apple sued Qualcomm over antitrust and contract-related matters in January 2017, the San Diego-based company that dominates the market for cellular baseband chips started a patent infringement lawsuit campaign against the iPhone maker in the U.S., Germany, and China. Qualcomm wanted to kick off the German "rulings season" with a Mannheim injunction--and got a Munich rejection.
A three-judge panel--composed of Judge Dr. Schoen, who filled in for Presiding Judge Dr. Zigann at last week's trial, and Judges Klein and Schmitz--held that Apple's iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus do not infringe Qualcomm's European patent EP1199750.
As if tone deaf, Mueller notes that "Qualcomm has filed additional patent infringement complaints in Germany. It will keep trying, but realistically it won't be able to force Apple into a settlement before some key antitrust, contract and patent exhaustion questions are resolved in the United States." For more on this, read the full FOSS Patents report here.
Our Reports on the Qualcomm-Apple Legal War since September
01: Magistrate Judge Rebukes Qualcomm for iPhone Patent Infringement Allegations
02: An Expert Opinion from the Swedish Patent Office says that Qualcomm's Patent used to Sue Apple Should be Invalidated
03: In Qualcomm's most recent case against Apple, we learn that Apple cleverly developed a Workaround in iOS 12 to defeat Infringement
04: An Amicus Brief filed by two Technology Associations fully Support the FTC's Motion against Qualcomm over Essential Patent Licensing
05: A Finnish Patent Troll Sues Apple Claiming that iMessage and FaceTime infringe 8 of their (Acquired) Patents
06: Legal Analyst Claims that Qualcomm is clearly Stumbling in their battle with Apple in Mannheim Trial due to Tech-Savvy Court
07: With new iPhones using Intel Modems, Qualcomm Lashes out at Apple for stealing their trade secrets in a new Legal Filing
08: Qualcomm is angry over a U.S. International Trade Commission Judge Refusing to Ban iPhones in the U.S.
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