Apple owes Qualcomm $31M, jury rules
SAN DIEGO -- A jury has decided Apple should pay $31 million in damages for infringing on patents for technology owned by chipmaker Qualcomm that helps iPhones quickly connect to the Internet and extends their battery life.
The verdict Friday in a San Diego federal court follows a two-week trial that pitted two former allies that have become bitter adversaries. The trial is a fragment of a legal battle involving Apple and Qualcomm, which are sparring over who invented some of the technology used for key features in smartphones and other mobile devices.
The stakes will be much larger in another federal trial next month that will determine whether Apple should be required to pay Qualcomm for licensing other technology used in iPhones.
Apple had been paying the licensing fees until it stopped in 2017 and filed a lawsuit alleging that Qualcomm was abusing its dominance of the mobile-chip market to gouge smartphone makers for technology that it hadn't even invented. That trial is scheduled to start April 15.
In the trial that just concluded, the jury unanimously agreed with Qualcomm's contention that it should be paid $1.41 per iPhone relying on three of its patents. The damages date to July 6, 2017, when Qualcomm filed its lawsuit, and covers technology used in the iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X.
-- The Associated Press
Industrial production rises 0.1 percent
WASHINGTON -- U.S. industrial production rose a slight 0.1 percent in February, as an increase in utilities and mining offset the second straight monthly drop in manufacturing.
The Federal Reserve said Friday that the manufacturing component of the index fell 0.4 percent last month, after having fallen 0.5 percent in January. Factory production has slipped 1 percent during the past 12 months.
The declines in manufacturing activity point toward lower economic growth, though not necessarily a slide into a recession, said Gregory Daco, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics.
"Looking ahead, we continue to expect slower momentum, but we caution against a recession bias as growth slows," Daco said. "Business confidence surveys have softened amid headwinds from slower global growth, trade tensions, reduced fiscal stimulus and a stronger dollar, but domestic fundamentals remain generally solid."
Orders for nontransportation goods have tumbled in two of the past three months, according to the Commerce Department. The pace of factory growth is slowing, according to the manufacturing index of the Institute for Supply Management, an association of purchasing managers.
-- The Associated Press
Ford CEO's 2018 compensation at $17.7M
Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Officer Jim Hackett's compensation rose about 6 percent in 2018, a year the CEO characterized as "mediocre by any standard" for the automaker.
Hackett received $17.75 million in total compensation, up from about $16.7 million in 2017. Increases to the CEO's salary, stock awards, perks and benefits offset a reduction in bonus payments, according to a regulatory filing Friday.
Hackett, 63, is leading an $11 billion restructuring of Ford that involves slashing jobs, closing plants, updating an aging lineup, exiting the North American sedan market and pouring billions into electric and self-driving cars. Last year, net income fell by more than half, as Ford lost money in every region of the world other than North America. The company's shares fell 39 percent as Wall Street criticized Hackett for moving too slowly and failing to explain his turnaround plan.
In an internal memo sent in January, Hackett said Ford should have earned roughly double the profit it posted for 2018 and told employees to "bury the year in a deep grave." The company slashed the CEO's bonus for the year by 28 percent after falling short of targets for revenue, earnings margins and operating cash flow.
Ford reported in its proxy filing that Hackett's annualized pay was 276 times the $64,000 earned by the company's median-salary worker.
-- Bloomberg News
Oil drillers scale back shale exploration
Oil explorers settled into the deepest drilling slowdown in more than a year as the U.S. shale patch struggles to maintain its explosive growth.
Working oil rigs fell by one this week to 833, according to data released Friday by oil-field-services provider Baker Hughes. The four-week decline is the longest since May 2016.
The U.S. government cut its oil production forecast for the first time in six months as drillers scale back in smaller shale plays and the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. While crude output is still expected to reach record levels, the Energy Information Administration trimmed its 2019 forecast to 12.3 million barrels a day -- 110,000 barrels-a-day lower than its previous forecast.
"This is just the beginning," said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group Inc. in Chicago. Many shale drillers "are not making money and are having a hard time keeping these production levels up."
U.S. crude output fell for the first time this year when output dropped by 100,000 barrels a day last week to 12 million, according to the Energy Information Administration.
-- Bloomberg News
Tesla rolls out new SUV despite travails
Tesla has unveiled a compact sport utility vehicle called the Model Y, in its latest effort to broaden its product range while contending with problems on a number of fronts.
Speaking Thursday night at an event at the company's design center in Hawthorne, Calif., Elon Musk, Tesla's chief executive, touted the new electric vehicle's performance and safety-focused design.
Tesla, however, is still a long way from delivering the vehicle. It forecast that the earliest deliveries would begin in fall 2020, barring engineering or production delays of the sort that hampered its best-selling car, the Model 3.
Last year, Musk predicted that the Model Y would be ready for delivery in the first half of 2020. Tesla has not offered detailed plans for assembling the car, and recently said it would probably make the Model Y at its giant battery plant in Nevada.
The first Model Y versions will have starting prices of $47,000 to $60,000 and are expected to offer a driving range of up to 300 miles. A cheaper version with a range of about 230 miles and a starting price of $39,000 is supposed to go into production in spring 2021.
-- The New York Times
Business on 03/16/2019