Apple's $502M payment to Optis over patent infringement goes to UK Supreme Court – AppleInsider

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Mon Jun 29 2026, 07:07 PM EDT · 2 minute read
Apple seeks to avoid paying Optis $502 million over alleged patent infringement.
Apple is contesting a ruling that would force it to pay Optis $502 million for LTE patent infringement, but the UK Supreme Court has yet to reach a verdict.
The legal battle between Apple and Optis goes back to February 2019, and there’s still no end in sight all these years later. Apple was accused of infringing upon Optis’ LTE patents, which ultimately led to lawsuits in both the United Kingdom and the United States.
The latter case resulted in Apple’s victory, as it avoided paying Optis $300M in damages in February 2026. The outcome of the UK lawsuit, however, isn’t quite as clear-cut.
As spotted by 9to5mac and reported by The Financial Times, Apple now wants the UK Supreme Court to overturn a 2023 Court of Appeal ruling that would force it to pay Optis $502 million.
Initially, Apple was only supposed to pay $56 million, as decided by the High Court in London. Later, the Court of Appeal increased that amount to $502 million by using Optis’ deal with Google as a baseline and adding royalties dating back to 2013.
Apple, however, claims the increase was “arbitrary” and that the Court of Appeal “erred in law.” The outcome of the UK lawsuit remains to be seen, but the case could drag on for years to come.
Back in 2020, the UK Supreme Court ruled that UK courts can set the payment rate for patents worldwide, even though the court can only consider the infringement of UK patents. This was good news for Optis, as it was free to seek more damages from Apple.
Optis claims that Apple violated its patents on LTE technology.
In July 2021, Optis wanted to force Apple into paying $7 billion in damages, along with a global royalty rate. Apple called the fee “commercially unacceptable” and threatened to leave the UK market if it was forced to pay such a high amount.
Later, in March 2022, the London High Court declared that Apple infringed two 4G patents held by Optis, which it described as “standard essential patents.”
Apple tried to argue that none of the patents were essential, and said it hadn’t committed any infringement. Still, its appeal was ultimately denied in July 2023.
Instead of the $7B sought by Optis, the London High Court said Apple had to pay only $56.43 million. However, Optis filed an appeal, which was ultimately successful. A $502 million fine was imposed by the UK Court of Appeal in May 2025.
This amount represents a lump sum covering 2013 to 2027, and was supposed to serve as a global license to use Optis LTE patents in the iPhone, Apple Watch, and other devices.
“[We are] pleased the UK Court of Appeal has recognized and corrected a clearly flawed prior ruling,” an Optis spokesperson told AppleInsider at the time, “and has made meaningful progress toward affirming the true value of our patents to Apple devices.”
Now, however, it’s up to the UK Supreme Court to decide just how much Apple will have to pay.
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