Apple faces £595m patent bill after losing lawsuit over microchip used in iPhone 5S, 6, 6S and iPad
It looks like Apple has borrowed its microchip design from a university.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison just successfully sued the tech giant over a chip patent that it developed in 1998, and Apple has been using in devices like the popular iPhone 6 without permission.
Apple now faces a £595m patent bill after losing the lawsuit, as the jury found that the company’s A7, A8 and A8X processors violate the patent.
These processors are used in devices like the iPhone 5S, 6 and 6S, as well as several versions of the iPad tablet.
Read more: Apple wins patent ruling against Samsung
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation sued Apple almost two years ago for infringement of the patent, which improves the power efficiency of microchips, and a US jury has now ruled that the patent is valid.
This is bad news for Apple, as the company has been arguing that the use was fair game because the patent was invalid, even unsuccessfully petitioning the US Patent and Trademark Office to try to convince it to review the patent.
The university has previously sued Intel over use of the same patent, in a 2008 case that was settled for an undisclosed sum out of court.