Last month, a High Court judge ruled that Apple had infringed two of the patents, and therefore Apple should pay fees…reports Asian Lite News.
The US tech giant Apple have warned that it could exit Britain if a court orders it to pay “commercially unacceptable” fees to patent company Optis Cellular over alleged infringement of 3G and 4G patents, media reported.
The company is currently involved in a lawsuit with Optis in the UK, with Apple refusing to pay the firm license fees for patents Optis claims it used in the iPhone and other technologies, according to a report by appleinsider.
Last month, a High Court judge ruled that Apple had infringed two of the patents, and therefore Apple should pay fees. The value of the fees has yet to be determined, but This Is Money writes it could be a legal fight worth up to 5 billion pounds ($7 billion) to Apple.
As for how much it could be, Justice Meade said during a hearing in January that Apple “might be disappointed” by the set rate, the appleinsider reported.
Meade offered it was unlikely that Apple would perform a drastic action, such as exiting the UK market, if the fees are too high, with “no evidence it is even remotely possible” that Apple would consider it.
Marie Demetriou, Apple’s lawyer, argued back, as quoted in a report by appleinsider, “I’m not sure that is right. Apple’s position is it should indeed be able to reflect on the terms and decide whether commercially it is right to accept them or to leave the UK market. There may be terms that are set by the court which are just commercially unacceptable.”
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