Intel Teams Up With Apple In Antitrust Case Against Fortress

Apple and Intel aren’t what you would call the best of friends; at times, the two tech giants are either bumping heads with each other or, in this case, buying out the other’s 5G modem business. Now, in a surprising twist of events, both companies are joining forces in a patent lawsuit against Softbank-controlled company, Fortress.

The unlikely alliance stems from patent lawsuits that was first brought against Intel by Fortress. According to Techspot’s report, Intel has consistently rebutted these alleged infringements, stating that Fortress itself had stockpiled patents in a manner that is “unlawful and anti-competitive”.

Apple’s appearance in the lawsuit will have most certainly thrown a wrench into Fortress’ gears, with the fruit company stating that it has “suffered economic harm in the form of litigation cost and diversion of resources away from innovation to respond to these entities’ serial nuisance suits”.

Adding more oil into Fortress’ fire, Apple pointed out that firms associated with the defendant (Fortress) had also slapped the company with nearly 25 lawsuits, and that they were seeking between US$2.6 billion (~RM10.8 billion) and US$5.1 billion (~RM21.3 billion) in damages. As to what Apple and Intel want, below is a summary of their demands:

1. That Defendants’ unlawful conduct be declared a violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1; Section 7 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. § 18; and Cal. Bus. Prov. Code § 17200, et seq.;
2. That Intel and Apple recover damages against Defendants in an amount to be determined and multiplied to the extent provided by law, including under Section 4 of the Clayton Act;
3. That all contracts or agreements Defendants entered into in violation of the Sherman Act, Clayton Act, or Cal. Bus. Prov. Code § 17200, et seq. be declared void and the patents covered by those transfer agreements be transferred back to the transferors;
4. That all patents transferred to Defendants in violation of the Sherman Act, Clayton Act, or Cal. Bus. Prov. Code § 17200, et seq. be declared unenforceable;
5. Award to Intel and Apple their costs and expenses associated with this case, together with interest; and
6. Grant such other and further relief as the Court may deem just and proper under the circumstances.

As mentioned prior, Fortress is company that is controlled by Softbank, the multinational conglomerate that also has shares in both Uber and Grab, the two ride-sharing companies. Earlier this year, the conglomerate also began selling off its shares in NVIDIA, netting it a total of US$3.3 billion (~RM13.8 billion).

(Source: AnandTech via Techspot // Image: Techspot)