Apple has filed a 100-page suit against Qualcomm worth $1 billion in a patent fight that pits the famous iPhone maker against the mobile chip maker - one of its major suppliers.
The complaint arose only three days after the FTC filed a complaint against Qualcomm, accusing it for maintaining monopoly over cellular phone chips. After facing a lawsuit itself, reports by the FTC stated that Apple was forced into purchasing Qualcomm chips in exchange for reduced licensing fees.
With the recent advances, Apple has lashed back stating that Qualcomm was a "greedy monopolist" that abused its power as an important part of the mobile chip market in order to extract royalties from iPhone innovations which are in no sense or way related to Qualcomm's technology.
An example of the latter is the demand for royalties by Qualcomm for the fingerprint identification system by Apple that was incorporated in recent models of the iPhone. Qualcomm also demanded royalties for expanded storage capacities on the gadgets as stated in the lawsuit.
In response, Qualcomm denied the aforementioned allegations.
The Qualcomm general counsel, Don Rosenberg, stated "We welcome the opportunity to have these meritless claims heard in court where we will be entitled to full discovery of Apple's practices and a robust examination of the merits."
Apple is cooperating with government regulators who are jointly investigating the business practices of Qualcomm. As a response, Qualcomm retaliated and withheld an amount totaling $1 billion in scheduled payments.
The lawsuit raised by Apple states that "Qualcomm's recent effort to cover its tracks - by punishing Apple for providing truthful testimony at the request of government regulators - underscores the lengths to which Qualcomm will go to protect its extortion scheme."
Despite the complications Apple faces, it is straightforward with its cooperation with the FTC and has provided necessary information to regulators in Europe, South Korea and Taiwan regarding the dealings with Qualcomm.
The South Korean regulators imposed an $853 million fine last month on Qualcomm on grounds of violating antitrust laws. This decision is being fought by Qualcomm. The San Diego-based Qualcomm Inc. experienced a drop of $1.56, or 2.4 percent, in shared. It closed on Friday at $62.88. Apple Inc. shares, based in Cupertino, California, on the other hand ended up 22 cents at $120.
