A federal judge has granted Apple’s request to preclude Qualcomm from seeking financial compensation for the infringement before the lawsuit was filed in 2017, reports Bloomberg. The judge also ruled that the iPhone maker isn’t infringing one of the several patents that Qualcomm says are at stake in the litigation.
The judge’s ruling “narrowed the potential damages Qualcomm Inc. can seek over alleged patent infringement before the two square off at a trial scheduled to start next month in San Diego,” notes Bloomberg.
In January 2017, Apple filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm, alleging the chip supplier demanded unfair terms for its technology. However, Qualcomm denied the allegations and says Apple wouldn’t have an iPhone business if it weren’t for fair licensing of the company’s essential tech.
Lawsuits and countersuits have flown fast and furious between the two companies since then. The judge’s ruling involves patents that were in the first of two cases filed by Qualcomm in the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington. In that case, a judge found that Apple infringed one of Qualcomm’s patents, but recommended that no import ban be imposed. The commission is scheduled to release its findings on March 26.
