After US, Apple files suit against Qualcomm in China
Published: Jan 27, 2017
By TIOLCORP News Service
NEW DELHI, JAN 27, 2017: APPLE Inc. has filed two lawsuits against Qualcomm Inc. in China, extending a legal battle with its longtime chip supplier into the world's biggest market for smartphones. The suits, which Apple filed in Beijing's Intellectual Property Court, make claims similar to those in a U.S. lawsuit the iPhone maker filed last week targeting the way Qualcomm sells proprietary technology that is critical for smartphones. One of the China suits claims Qualcomm has violated China's antimonopoly law; the other relates to Qualcomm's licensing practices, which Apple says are unfair and unreasonable. Apple said it is seeking 1 billion yuan ($145 million) in damages in the antimonopoly suit.
Apple's U.S. lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in California, argues that Qualcomm leveraged its monopoly position as a manufacturer of baseband chips, a critical component in cellphones, to seek "onerous, unreasonable and costly" terms for patents. It also says that Qualcomm blocked Apple's ability to choose another chipset supplier. Apple, which says it has been overcharged billions of dollars by Qualcomm, is seeking to recover damages and block Qualcomm from demanding "excessive royalties."
Qualcomm called those Apple claims baseless, saying Apple mischaracterized agreements and negotiations and failed to acknowledge the value of the technology Qualcomm invented.
The Apple suits follow a lawsuit filed this month by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission alleging Qualcomm engaged in unlawful tactics to maintain a monopoly on baseband chips. That came after South Korea's antitrust regulator last month announced a roughly $853 million fine on Qualcomm for alleged anticompetitive patent-licensing practices. Qualcomm said it would fight both those actions.
