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The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an Apple bid to revive an attempt to invalidate some Qualcomm patents, despite the settlement between the two companies.
The judges on Monday upheld Apple’s appeal against a lower court ruling, stating that the iPhone maker did not have the status to pursue the case due to a 2019 settlement between the two companies. Reuters you reported.
Qualcomm filed a lawsuit against Apple in 2017, alleging that the company’s iPhones and other devices infringed on some of its mobile patents. In 2019, the parties settled the litigation and signed an agreement that allowed Apple to continue using Qualcomm modems in its smartphones.
While that settlement included licenses for many of Qualcomm’s patents, it also allowed an Apple bid to challenge the validity of two patents at the Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).
The PTAB ruled in Qualcomm’s favor. In November, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit dismissed Apple’s appeal, saying that its settlement with Qualcomm prevented it from invalidating the San Diego chipmaker’s patents.
Apple argued in the Supreme Court that Qualcomm could sue him again after the settlement expires in 2025, noting that the chipmaker has a “history of aggressive application of its patents.”
In an order to the Supreme Court in May, the Biden administration urged the judges to reject Apple’s appeal.