Apple Files Patent Lawsuits Against Qualcomm In China
Right now, the San Diego-based tech manufacturer is the superior supplier of chip sets that allow smartphones to connect to cell networks. Due to its dominant market presence, it also has bigger troubles to attend to at the moment.
The Apple Company is bringing Qualcomm to court over issues involving patent charges. Two complaints are due to be processed in China's judiciary.
The primary case points to violations against China's Anti-Monopoly Law. The Cupertino-based tech giant is seeking around one billion Yuan or $145.35 million in reparations.
The next petition is associated with the issuance of a license deal between Apple and Qualcomm. This agreement is set to standardize patent fees.
In response, Qualcomm legal adviser Don Rosenberg reiterates that the iPhone-producing firm simply wants to lower its payments for the chipmaker's technology. The counselor-at-law also has also said that Apple has not accepted the terms being implemented by many Chinese organizations. Such schemes comply with the Mainland's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) Rectification approach.
This is not the first time that such incident occurred. Back in 2015, the NDRC has probed Qualcomm's breach of the giant nation's Anti-Monopoly regulation that penalized the US group with a $975-million fine.
Qualcomm's predicament comes on the heels of another legal case filed against it by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). It has been determined by the American regulatory agency that the San Diego-based group is monopolizing the mobile industry illicitly.
The chipmaker's dominance has stemmed out from its licensing procedures that mandate global organizations to pay for tech innovations being integrated into smartphones. It has been known that the hardware manufacturer gained round $23.5 billion in 2016 for chip revenues alone.
Following FTC's complaint, Apple has also filed a case seeking $1 billion in compensation. The lawsuit has charged Qualcomm with unfair practices associated with royalties that are not aligned with the company's technologies.
Both Apple and Samsung are getting their supply of phone chips from Qualcomm. The two firms have contributed around 40 percent of the San Diego-situated group's profits last year.
