Yesterday, former Apple engineer Arjuna Siva testified in the company’s ongoing court battle with Qualcomm. The testimony centered on whether Qualcomm purposefully didn’t name Siva as a co-inventor on a patent. In new filings today, Apple says it has “good reason” to believe someone attempted to sway Siva’s testimony.
Siva testified yesterday that while he contributed ideas to the cellular data technology patented by Qualcomm, he doesn’t claim to be an inventor. While Siva’s testimony wasn’t necessarily bad for Apple, it clearly wasn’t as matter-of-fact as Apple would have liked.
Apple’s argument is that Siva co-invented technology in one of the three disputed Qualcomm patents, and there should be named on the patent itself. The patent relates to technology that allows a smartphone to quickly regain internet connection after the boot up process.
As reported by CNET, Apple counsel Juanita Brooks wrote in a filing today that the company thinks it has reason to believe someone tried to sway Siva’s testimony. “Apple had good reason to be concerned that steps were being taken to influence Mr. Siva’s testimony,” Brooks wrote.
This isn’t the first time Apple has alluded to witness tampering in this case. Last week, Siva briefly backed out of testifying, prompting Apple to accuse Qualcomm’s defense of witness tampering.
Apple’s claim was seemingly prompted by Siva taking on new counsel, Matt Warren, who advised him not to testify. Warren was a former partner at law firm Quinn Emanuel, which is also the firm currently representing Qualcomm. Qualcomm called the allegation “ridiculous.” Ultimately, Judge Dana Sabraw said there was “no evidence” to support Apple’s claim.
Despite Apple’s belief that someone was trying to sway Siva’s testimony, Brooks wrote in today’s filing that the company does not plan to pursue “further action” in regards to the witness tampering claim. Seemingly, Apple sees Siva’s testimony as being adequate enough.
Related stories:
- Former Apple engineer says he doesn’t claim to be a co-inventor of the tech Qualcomm patented
- Apple says its former engineer co-created tech that Qualcomm patented without credit
- Apple loses key witness in latest Qualcomm battle, accuses the chipmaker of witness tampering [U]
- Qualcomm argues its role in the smartphone industry as it kicks off latest court battle with Apple
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