Apple is engaged in a legal battle with chip maker Qualcomm where both companies are suing each other on several charges. However, the Cupertino-based company has also been embroiled in a legal dispute with the University of Wisconsin-Madison related to patent infringement charges. A U.S. judge on July 24 ordered the iPhone company to pay $506 million to the University’s Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation or WARF.

Apple to pay over $500 million fine for patent infringement

In October 2015, Apple had been ordered to pay a sum of $234 million to WARF after a jury found the company guilty of unlawfully using WARF's patented technology in some of its iPhone powering processors.

However, U.S. district judge William Conley added a hefty $272 million on top of the previous sum as damages that Apple would have to pay after continuing to infringe the patented technology until it expired in December, 2016.

Apple will appeal against the jury’s decision, according to the papers from the court. However, the company did not comment on what course of action it will take next. WARF sued Apple for the first time in 2014, when the patent infringement first came to light.

History of WARF’s patent infringement case against Apple

In 2014, WARF alleged that Apple was infringing on a patent placed on “predictor circuit” technology for which the University’s science professor Gurindar Sohi and three of his students had obtained the patent in 1998.

These predictor circuits were found inside the iPhones and are capable of predicting what the users next command to the device will be before it is entered.

Apple denied the patent infringement allegations put forward to the jury back in 2015. It further claimed that the patent in question was invalid, going so far as to urging the U.S.

Patent and Trademark Office to review if the patent in question was still valid. The agency however claimed that the patent was very much valid and the infringement charges stood against the company.

Monday’s ruling was regarding the company’s A7, A8, and A8X chipsets which the jury claimed infringed on the patent in question.

WARF has also alleged infringement when it comes to Apple’s A9 chipset. However, a ruling on that aspect is still to be delivered. Conley revealed that he would not pass a verdict on that matter till Apple gets a chance to appeal the 2015 infringement ruling. It now remains to be seen whether the company really has to pay the huge sum of money as fine or whether its appeal will net some good results for Apple.
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