Apple is continuing its legal battle against Qualcomm after filing a lawsuit against the latter in a U.K. court. Its recent lawsuit highlights a patent and royalty disagreement that brought on lawsuits in other countries, such as the United States and China.
According to Bloomberg, the lawsuit was said to have been filed on Thursday. While the report mentioned a claim on patents and designs, there have been no exact details about the range of Apple’s lawsuit against Qualcomm in the U.K.
Apple’s first lawsuit that sued Qualcomm for $1 billion was sent in last month in the US. Prior to the tech giant suing the equipment company, an FTC complaint alleged that Qualcomm took advantage of monopolistic measures as a means of preventing Apple from sourcing components from competitors.
“Qualcomm built its business on older, legacy, standards but reinforces its dominance through exclusionary tactics and excessive royalties,” Apple noted in the January statement. “Despite being just one of over a dozen companies who contributed to basic cellular standards, Qualcomm insists on charging Apple at least five times more in payments than all the other cellular patent licensors we have agreements with combined.”
Apple argued that Qualcomm should be sued for charging royalty fees for unnecessary technologies. Furthermore, the Cupertino-based company complained of the latter withholding a $1 billion rebate from it after working with South Korean officers. Recently, Qualcomm was found to have carried out antitrust violations in South Korea and was fined over $850 million.
Similarly, Apple is filing a lawsuit worth $140 million against Qualcomm in China over the same disputes on patent and royalties. As mentioned in this claim, Apple stated that Qualcomm violated China’s policies against monopoly.
Apple's iPhone 7 is the first iPhone over the years to incorporate a modem from another source, particularly Intel. However, Qualcomm remains intact in Apple's supply chain. Aside from wireless chips, Qualcomm is widely known for developing the Snapdragon processors integrated into numerous Android phones. Although the company's revenues can mostly be attributed to its chips, more than half of its profits have been found to come from patent licenses as it controls several crucial technologies.
CEO Tim Cook opened up about the company’s battle with Qualcomm at Apple’s recent earnings call.
“I fully expect at this point in time that it will take some time, but in the end, I think common sense will prevail, and the courts will see it for what it is,” Cook stated.
