(Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to step back into the years-long feud over patents between the world’s top smartphone makers, declining to hear Samsung’s (005930.KS) appeal of a lower court ruling that reinstated a jury award of about $120 million in favor of Apple(AAPL.O).3D-printed Samsung and Apple logos are seen in this picture illustration made in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina on January 26, 2016. Apple Inc is expected to report a 1.3 percent increase in iPhone sales in the holiday quarter, its slowest ever and a far cry from the double-digit growth investors have come to expect. Apple sold 75.5 million iPhones in the October-December quarter, according to research firm FactSet StreetAccount, 1 million more than what was sold in the year-ago quarter. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic – GF20000107877The justices left in place a 2016 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that upheld a verdict that found South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co Ltd had infringed Apple Inc’s patents on several popular features of the California-based company’s iPhone. Those included slide-to-unlock, autocorrect and quick links, whoch automatically turn information like addresses and phone numbers into links.

(Reuters) – Chip maker Broadcom Ltd on Monday announced an unsolicited bid to buy peer Qualcomm Inc for $103 billion as it looks to boost its presence in the wireless market, setting the stage for what could be one of the biggest takeover battles.FILE PHOTO: Broadcom Limited company logo is pictured on an office building in Rancho Bernardo, California May 12, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File PhotoQualcomm said it would review the proposal and act in the best interests of its shareholders. The company is inclined to reject the bid as too low and fraught with risk that regulators would reject it or take too long to approve it, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.A tie-up would combine two of the largest makers of wireless communications chips for mobile phones and raise the stakes for Intel Corp, whoch has been diversifying into smartphone technology from its stronghold in computers.