Legal battles between Qualcomm and Apple have been raging on for the past two years. In 2017, the former was sued by Apple for $1 billion and a billion yuan (~$145 million) respectively. Qualcomm hit back with a few lawsuits as well, suing Apple for misleading customers about chip performance, and withholding royalties, for which it attempted to ban the sale of iPhones in the US.
Just a couple of months ago, Qualcomm announced that it probably won"t be supplying modems for upcoming iPhones, accusing Apple of stealing chip secrets and selling them to Intel. Now, the chip-maker has claimed that the Cupertino tech giant owes it $7 billion in royalty payments.
As reported by Reuters, Apple has repeatedly been accusing Qualcomm for abuse of patent licenses, while the latter is claiming patent infringement. In the latest development in court proceedings in San Diego, the chip-maker has stated that Apple is behind in royalties, by a considerable margin of $7 billion.
Meanwhile, Apple has claimed that it"s unfair that it has to pay twice for select patents, once when using them in iPhones, and then again in royalty payments. According to the report, Qualcomm has rejected this claim, saying that its "practices are legal and that Apple is seeking to destroy Qualcomm’s business model after agreeing to it for years."
It remains to be seen how the court deals with the latest tussle, and how it shapes the overall tech landscape. In June 2017, numerous tech companies including Microsoft, Google, Samsung, Intel, and Facebook pledged support for Apple against Qualcomm. Needlessly to say, the chip-maker didn"t take this news well, claiming that the aforementioned development is a "coordinated effort aimed at misdirecting" regulatory authorities.
Source: Reuters