Samsung, Caltech settle US patent fight over wireless chips

Samsung and the California Institute of Technology told an East Texas federal court that they have settled Caltech’s patent lawsuit that accused the South Korean conglomerate of violating its patent rights in Wi-Fi technology.

Samsung and Caltech said in a joint filing that they had settled in principle and asked the court to pause the case while they finalize their agreement.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed and representatives for Samsung and Caltech did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A trial in the case had been set to begin next month.

Pasadena, California-based Caltech said in the lawsuit, filed in 2021, that Samsung devices including Galaxy phones, tablets and watches use Wi-Fi chips that infringe the school’s data-transmission patents.

The lawsuit followed a $1.1 billion jury verdict for Caltech against Apple and Broadcom in 2020 based on allegations that Broadcom Wi-Fi chips used in Apple’s iPhones and other devices infringed some of the same patents. A U.S. appeals court threw out the jury’s award last year and ordered a new trial on damages, finding the amount was “legally unsupportable.”

Caltech has separately sued Microsoft, Dell and HP over the patents in cases that are still pending.

The case is California Institute of Technology v. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, No. 2:21-cv-00446.

For Caltech: Kalpana Srinivasan, Dan Shih, Daniel Wilson and Tamar Lusztig of Susman Godfrey

For Samsung: Greg Arovas, Robert Appleby, Ed Donovan, Chris Mizzo, Mike Pearson, John Rhine, Nichole DeJulio and Eric Hayes of Kirkland & Ellis