Apple's legal troubles with schools aren't over yet: Caltech has sued Apple and chipmaker Broadcom for allegedly violating four WiFi-related patents. Supposedly, most Apple devices (including the iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch) from the iPhone 5 onward use Broadcom chips that copy Caltech decoding and encoding technology to improve data flow. As with most such lawsuits, the institute is calling for both damages and a ban on offending hardware.
Apple faces Caltech lawsuit over WiFi patents
The school is also targeting Broadcom.
How well Apple or Broadcom fares isn't clear, but there's the very real possibility that they'll have to pay the piper (either following a trial or an out-of-court settlement). Given that the tech is vital to the 802.11n and 802.11ac WiFi standards, neither company can afford to stop using it -- not unless you miss the good old days of 54Mbps wireless access. And as The Verge points out, Caltech isn't exactly a patent troll relying on dubious claims to make a tidy profit -- it's more likely to have a valid case.