Litigation

Qualcomm Incorporated v. Apple Incorporated

settled

3:17-cv-02398-DMS-MDD

Filed
2017-11-29
Terminated
2019-04-16

Patents at issue (5)

9552633
8633356
8698336
8063674
9025002

Defendants (1)

Summary

Qualcomm sued Apple in the Southern District of California, asserting five Qualcomm patents including the '633 patent against Apple's dual-camera iPhones with Portrait Mode. The case was resolved by the April 16, 2019 global Qualcomm-Apple settlement and dismissed.

Case overview & background

Plain-language overview of the case: parties, accused product, patents at issue, and why the suit matters.

I'll research this case across docket sources, court opinions, and patent databases.

Let me verify the exact patent list and what each covers.

Key legal developments & outcome

Major rulings, motions, claim construction, settlements, and the present posture or final disposition.

I'll research this case systematically, starting with the docket and coverage of the litigation.

The docket reveals an important nuance: the five patents actually asserted don't match the metadata exactly. Let me dig into the 2398 docket itself and the parallel IPRs.

Now let me pin down the district court's own procedural history: claim construction, dispositive motions, and the dismissal.

Plaintiff representatives

Counsel of record for the plaintiff(s): attorneys, firms, and roles (lead counsel, of counsel, local counsel).

I'll research the docket and counsel appearances for this case.

Let me verify the lead counsel designations and the Cravath role.

Let me pin down the later-stage signature blocks and whether Cravath formally appeared in this case.

Bottom line

Qualcomm's litigation team in No. 3:17-cv-02398-DMS-MDD was a three-firm structure typical of the Qualcomm–Apple war: Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan as national/lead trial counsel, Jones Day (San Diego) as local counsel of record, and Norton Rose Fulbright as a co-counsel arm that appeared on the substantive motion practice. Cravath, Swaine & Moore was named on the complaint caption but I could not locate a pro hac vice entry for its lawyers in this docket — Cravath's lead trial role actually materialized in the companion contract case, No. 3:17-cv-1375.

1. Lead counsel

Attorney Role Firm / office Note
David A. Nelson (Ill. Bar 6209623; PHV) Lead counsel — first-named on the complaint (Dkt. 1) Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, Chicago Argued for Qualcomm at the Markman hearing on 11/14/2018 (Dkt. 160 minute entry: "Plaintiff Attorney David Nelson, Patrick Curan, Brianne Straka, Kelly O'Donnell"). PHV approved 2/9/2018 (Dkt. 79). Also Qualcomm's lead trial lawyer in the companion S.D. Cal. patent case where the jury returned a $31.6M verdict against Apple on 3/15/2019.

2. Quinn Emanuel trial team (of counsel / case team)

Named in the operative signature blocks (Dkt. 109, filed 5/22/2018; Dkt. 173, 200) or noticed as appearing for Qualcomm:

Attorney Office Note
Patrick D. Curran (SBN 241630) New York Notice of appearance Dkt. 56 (1/26/2018); argued at the 11/14/2018 Markman hearing and the 11/8/2018 status conference (Dkt. 155, 160).
Sean S. Pak (SBN 219032) San Francisco Notice of appearance Dkt. 51; filed Qualcomm's answer to Apple's counterclaim (Dkt. 91). Led the QE team that won the $31M Apple verdict in the companion case (per Bloomberg Law/ALM).
Michelle Ann Clark (SBN 243777) San Francisco Notice of appearance Dkt. 54; the filer of record on the joint motion to dismiss (Dkt. 224, 4/22/2019) and on most 2018–19 discovery/joint motions.
Michael D. Powell (SBN 202850) San Francisco Notice of appearance Dkt. 59.
Andrew M. Holmes (SBN 260475) San Francisco Notice of appearance Dkt. 43.
Yury Kapgan (SBN 218366) Los Angeles Notice of appearance Dkt. 44.
Scott L. Watson (SBN 219147) Los Angeles Notice of appearance Dkt. 58.
Michael L. Fazio (SBN 228601) Los Angeles Notice of appearance Dkt. 60.
Joseph C. Sarles (SBN 254750) Los Angeles Notice of appearance Dkt. 57.
Valerie A. Lozano (SBN 260020) Los Angeles Notice of appearance Dkt. 61.
Alexander Rudis (N.Y. Bar; PHV) New York PHV approved 2/9/2018 (Dkt. 84).
Richard W. Erwine (N.Y. Bar; PHV) New York PHV approved 2/12/2018 (Dkt. 88).
Nathan A. Hamstra (Ill. Bar; PHV) Chicago PHV approved 2/12/2018 (Dkt. 90).
Stephen A. Swedlow (PHV) Chicago PHV approved 2/9/2018 (Dkt. 85); identified in press coverage as part of the Qualcomm trial team alongside Chesler.
Brianne Straka (PHV) — PHV approved 2/9/2018 (Dkt. 86); attended the Markman hearing (Dkt. 160).

Firm attribution caveat: the docket entries for PHV admissions state only "appearing for Plaintiff Qualcomm Incorporated." Quinn Emanuel affiliation is confirmed for the above from signature blocks in Dkts. 109/173/200 and from the

Defendant representatives

Counsel of record for the defendant(s): attorneys, firms, and roles (lead counsel, of counsel, local counsel).

I'll research the docket and related sources for defense counsel in this case.

Let me pull the docket and verify Apple's appearance filings.

Let me examine the docket entries for Apple's appearances and answer.

Counsel of Record for Defendant Apple Incorporated

Sourcing note up front: I could not query PACER directly in this session; the identifications below rest on docket text surfaced through CourtListener (docket No. 6235301), PlainSite, DocketAlarm, and the text of filed PDFs in case No. 3:17-cv-02398-DMS-MDD (CourtListener RECAP ID gov.uscourts.casd.553983). I flag confidence levels per attorney. Two names in the docket could not be firm-verified before I ran out of research steps — I say so rather than guessing.

Core trial team — Fish & Richardson P.C. (appears to have carried the defense)

Confirmed via the signature block of the Joint Motion to Modify Case Management Order, Dkt. 211 (filed Mar. 26, 2019), which is captioned "Attorneys for Defendant Apple Inc." in No. 3:17-cv-02398-DMS-MDD:

Attorney Role Firm / Office Notes
Ruffin B. Cordell (DC Bar No. 445801, admitted pro hac vice) Lead counsel Fish & Richardson P.C., Washington, D.C. (1000 Maine Ave., SW) Longtime Fish principal and first-chair patent trial lawyer; the PlainSite minute entries for the Nov. 14, 2018 Markman hearing list him first among "Defendant Attorneys," consistent with lead role.
Lauren A. Degnan (DC Bar No. 452421, pro hac vice) Core team / likely second chair Fish & Richardson P.C., Washington, D.C. Fish principal; electrical-engineering/patent litigation practice. Her bar number appears adjacent to Cordell's in the Dkt. 211 signature block.
Indranil ("Neel") Mukerji (DC Bar No. 974398, pro hac vice) Core team Fish & Richardson P.C., Washington, D.C. Fish principal; patent litigation, electronics/software docket.
Brian Livedalen (DC Bar No. 1002699, pro hac vice) Core team (junior) Fish & Richardson P.C., Washington, D.C. Listed in the same Dkt. 211 block.
Whitney Reichel (Mass. Bar No., admitted pro hac vice) Core team Fish & Richardson P.C., Boston, MA Confirmable two ways: Dkt. 211 signature block (Mass. bar number) and the PlainSite minute entry for the Markman hearing listing "Whitney Reichel" as a defendant attorney.

Additional Apple-side attorneys appearing at hearings (firm affiliation not verified)

PlainSite's minute-entry transcripts for this docket list, among "Defendant Attorneys," also: Jason Liss, Nina Tallon, Jacqueline Tio, and Jason Wolff (e.g., the Nov. 14, 2018 claim construction hearing: "Ruffin Cordell, Jason Liss, Whitney Reichel, Nina Tallon"; a later hearing: "Ruffin Cordell, Jacqueline Tio, Nina Tallon, Jason Wolff"). These are plausibly Fish & Richardson personnel (Tio is a Fish principal), but I did not confirm firm, office, or bar admission for any of these four from a primary filing — treat as unverified.

Second firm appearing for Apple — Durie Tangri LLP (verified docket text, scope unclear)

CourtListener docket text for this case records, on October 5, 2018, notices of appearance "on behalf of Apple Incorporated" for:

  • Joshua H. Lerner (SBN 220755)
  • Ragesh K. Tangri (SBN 159477)
  • Peter S. Horn
  • William Henry Huttinger

Lerner and Tangri are Durie Tangri LLP partners in San Francisco (217 Leidesdorff St.); Durie Tangri was a boutique patent/IP firm that combined with Morrison & Foerster in 2022. Both are well-documented patent and technology litigators. Caveat: the docket text is clear that these appearances were entered on Apple's behalf, but I could not retrieve the underlying notices of appearance to confirm the firm name as stated on the filing, nor determine whether their appearance was limited (e.g., to a discovery or IPR-related matter). The same names also appear in Apple's parallel Qualcomm litigation, so there is some risk of cross-docket contamination in the aggregator sources.

In-house / client-side

  • Zachariah Summers appears as the /s/ signatory for Apple on Dkt. 211 alongside the Fish block. He is most likely an Apple in-house attorney or a Fish attorney signing for the client, but I could not verify which — do not treat the in-house characterization as confirmed.

Local counsel

S.D. Cal. practice requires local counsel, and Fish & Richardson maintains a San Diego office (12390 El Camino Real) whose attorneys — Juanita R. Brooks (SBN 75934) and Seth M. Sproul (SBN 217711) — signed as Apple's counsel in the companion case In re Qualcomm Litigation, No. 3:17-cv-00108-GPC-MDD (Dkt. 498). It is a reasonable inference that the San Diego office served the local-counsel function here too, but I found no filing in 3:17-cv-02398 naming Brooks or Sproul, so this remains an inference, not a sourced fact.

Flags and discrepancies you should know about

  1. Judge reassignment: The complaint (Dkt. 1, filed Nov. 29, 2017) is stamped 3:17-cv-02398-LAB-MDD (Judge Larry A. Burns) and later appears as -DMS- (Judge Dana M. Sabraw). Consistent with reassignment, not a conflict with the metadata, but worth noting for citation purposes.
  2. Termination date: Case metadata says terminated 2019-04-16; DocketAlarm shows April 23, 2019; one aggregator (a "Closed (01/18/19)" tag) disagrees with both. The April 2019 dismissal following the global settlement is not in dispute; the exact minute-entry date of dismissal should be pulled from the docket before it is cited.
  3. Firm composition caveat: Because the defense was staffed by at least two firms (Fish & Richardson as the apparent lead, plus Durie Tangri appearances in October 2018), a counsel listing that names only one firm will be incomplete. If you need a definitive "counsel of record" list, the correct primary source is the CM/ECF docket's attorney/party association report for 3:17-cv-02398-DMS-MDD, which I could not access here.
  4. No sealed-appearance issue: The appearances themselves are public; the case does carry a SEALDC flag, but that affects substantive filings, not the identity of counsel.