Apple and WiLAN Settle Patent Disput, Announce License Agreement

Apple and WiLAN have settled their patent dispute and announced a patent licensing agreement.

The agreement includes the settlement and dismissal of all litigation pending between WiLAN and Polaris and Apple in the United States, Canada and Germany. The specific consideration payable under the agreement and all other terms and conditions are confidential.

On August 1, 2018, the United States District Court for the Southern District of California found Apple infringed on WiLAN patents 8,457,145 and 8,537,757 with a jury setting damages at $145.1 million. Apple managed to get a re-trial solely on damages that resulted in a $85.23 million verdict.


That was then appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In February, the CAFC agreed with the company that Apple infringed the patents-in-suit and was liable to pay damages. It also disagreed with a District Court decision that Apple products using Intel wireless chips should be excluded from damage calculations. However, they ruled against WiLAN with respect to assumptions made by the company's damages expert, remanding the case back to the District Court for another trial focused on damages.

The patents at issue address wireless bandwidth allocation and adaptive call admission control.