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EU fines Qualcomm $1.23 billion for abusing Apple partnership
Things just get worse and worse for Qualcomm. The European Commission has fined the company €997 million ($1.23 billion) for "abusing its market dominance" in LTE baseband chipsets. According to the Commission, Qualcomm prevented rivals from competing in the market by making hefty payments to Apple on the condition it wouldn't buy from anywhere else, which is illegal under EU antitrust rules.
Kim Dotcom sues the New Zealand government for $6.8 billion
Kim Dotcom, the founder of file-sharing site MegaUpload, is suing the New Zealand government for $6.8 billion dollars. According to the legal documents provided by the BBC, the claim covers the destruction of his business, loss of reputation, lost business opportunities, legal costs and lost opportunities on the home he was renting.
Spotify faces $1.6 billion lawsuit over song licensing
Spotify is no stranger to facing lawsuits accusing it of offering unlicensed songs, but the latest could prove to be very costly. Hollywood Reporter has learned that Wixen Music Publishing, which manages the song composition rights for artists ranging from Neil Young to Zach de la Rocha, has sued Spotify for copyright damages of at least $1.6 billion. Wixen claims that the streaming service is using tens of thousands of songs without proper licenses and the compensation to match. The plaintiff had already objected to proposed $43 million settlement in another case in May, so this wasn't coming entirely out of the blue.
Apple to start paying Ireland the billions it owes in back taxes
Last year, the European Commission ruled that Apple's sweetheart tax deal with Ireland was illegal and that the company owed around $14.5 billion in back taxes. But Ireland was rather slow to start collecting that cash, which led the Commission to refer the Irish government to the European Court of Justice in October due to Ireland's non-compliance with the 2016 ruling. However, the Wall Street Journal reports today that the country will finally start collecting those billions of dollars owed by Apple and it may start doing so early next year.
Waymo wants $2.6 billion from Uber for a single trade secret
During a hearing today wherein Alphabet's self-driving unit Waymo asked a judge to delay its upcoming trial against Uber in order to review new evidence, Reuters reports that one of Uber's attorneys said Waymo is seeking $2.6 billion for the alleged theft of one of the trade secrets listed in its complaint. That's a heck of a lot of money, especially considering that single trade secret -- and it's not clear which one it is -- is one of nine total. What damages Waymo is requesting for the other eight weren't disclosed.
ZTE will pay $1.19 billion for violating US trade sanctions
ZTE is still feeling the pain from its alleged violation of US trade sanctions against Iran and North Korea. The Chinese tech giant has reached an agreement with the Commerce Department to both plead guilty to violation charges and pay a total of $1.19 billion ($892 million in the Iran case) as a penalty. That's a stiff cost, but ZTE didn't have much choice. The US' sanctions against the company, suspended while the two sides negotiated a deal, would have crippled its business by largely denying access to crucial American parts like Qualcomm's mobile processors.
ZeniMax now wants $4 billion from Oculus as case goes to jury
VR pioneer Oculus has been on trial for several weeks now, defending itself against claims it stole crucial code from ZeniMax. But the ultimate judgement is now in the hands of a jury. As reported by Polygon, closing arguments have concluded and the jury now has to decided if Oculus chief technology officer John Carmack stole ZeniMax IP and brought it to Oculus when he joined the company in 2013. At the same time as it wrapped up closing arguments, ZeniMax doubled the damages it is asking for. The company now wants a grand total of $4 billion -- $2 billion in compensation and $2 billion in punitive damages.
