Apple

Apple Inc., commonly known as Apple, is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California. Founded on April 1, 1976, as Apple Computer Company, it was incorporated on January 3, 1977, and went public on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol AAPL on December 12, 1980. As of May 2026, Apple maintains a market capitalization of approximately $4.40 trillion and reported US$416 billion in revenue for 2025, with an estimated 166,000 employees worldwide.

Apple designs, manufactures, and markets a range of consumer electronics, software, and online services. Its core product lines include the iPhone smartphone, iPad tablet, Mac personal computers, Apple Watch, AirPods, and Apple Vision Pro. The company also develops its own operating systems such as iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Major service offerings include the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Pay, and iCloud.

In terms of patent litigation, Apple primarily operates as a defendant, defending against patent infringement suits. The company has 2 tracked cases as a defendant and no cases as a plaintiff. These cases are concentrated in venues such as the Western District of Texas and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), which are often favored by patent assertion entities.

Apple is currently involved in litigation with Marlin Semiconductor Limited, a subsidiary of the patent assertion entity (PAE) IPValue Management. The tracked cases include "Marlin Semiconductor Limited et al. v. Apple et al." in the Western District of Texas and "Marlin Semiconductor et al. v. TSMC et al." before the ITC. These lawsuits allege infringement of former United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) patents broadly directed to semiconductor fabrication, specifically targeting devices manufactured using TSMC's 16nm and smaller process nodes and the downstream products (e.g., smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, and wearables) that incorporate them. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), a key supplier to Apple, has also initiated an Inter Partes Review (IPR) against Marlin Semiconductor regarding one of the patents in dispute.