“After six months of escalating legal battles and increasingly heated rhetoric between mobile market titans Apple and Qualcomm, the head of Qualcomm sounded more conciliatory on Monday,” Aaron Pressman reports for Fortune.
“Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf compared the dispute with Apple over potentially billions of dollars in royalties on mobile chipsets to earlier fights Qualcomm has had over the years with other tech companies that were settled out of court,” Pressman reports. “‘There’s not really anything new going on,’ Mollenkopf said speaking at the Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen. About the Apple dispute, he explained ‘those things tend to get to resolved out of court and there’s no reason why I wouldn’t expect that to be the case here.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Sounds like Qualcomm’s CEO understands that the jig is up.
As we wrote back in January: “The Apple-Qualcomm FRAND dance continues.”
SEE ALSO:
Apple-Qualcomm legal dispute likely to be ‘long and ugly’ – July 7, 2017
Qualcomm wants court to block Apple from U.S. iPhone imports and sales – July 6, 2017
Judge rules U.S. FTC antitrust lawsuit against Qualcomm to proceed – June 27, 2017
Apple uses Supreme Court decision to escalate war against Qualcomm – June 20, 2017
Apple’s amended San Diego complaint against Qualcomm leaves no doubt: many billions at stake – June 20, 2017
Apple rejects Qualcomm’s allegation of throttling iPhones, says ‘study’ is ‘methodologically unsound’ – June 20, 2017
Apple just poached one of Qualcomm’s top guys – May 31, 2017
Supreme Court rules against Lexmark strengthening FTC/Apple cases against Qualcomm – May 30, 2017
Desperate Qualcomm seeks injunction against Apple’s suppliers – May 25, 2017
Qualcomm files new lawsuit in ongoing Apple feud targeting four major iPhone suppliers – May 17, 2017
FTC says Qualcomm is a monopoly; Samsung agrees – May 13, 2017
What seems reasonable to Qualcomm isn’t to Apple: Royalty dispute ultimately affects iPhone prices – May 8, 2017
Qualcomm to seek U.S. ITC import ban for Apple iPhones – May 3, 2017
Qualcomm slashes profit forecasts as Apple ceases paying iPhone royalties – April 28, 2017
BlackBerry awarded $815 million in arbitration with Qualcomm over royalty overpayments – April 13, 2017
Qualcomm countersues Apple – April 11, 2017
Qualcomm wants FTC to drop their antitrust suit, but it doesn’t mater because Apple’s isn’t going anywhere – April 5, 2017
Apple’s dispute with Qualcomm could last two years – March 3, 2017
Apple widens global patent war, files lawsuit against Qualcomm in the United Kingdom – March 2, 2017
Apple may have paid Qualcomm $40 per iPhone; accounting for 1/3rd of Qualcomm’s revenue – February 10, 2017
Conservative groups ask President Trump to terminate FCC lawsuit over Qualcomm patent licensing – January 27, 2016
Qualcomm CEO fires back at Apple: Bring it on – January 26, 2017
Apple sues Qualcomm in China seeking 1 billion yuan – January 25, 2017
Qualcomm comments on Apple’s lawsuits in China – January 25, 2017
Apple’s rebellion against the ‘Qualcomm Tax’ – January 24, 2017
Despite lawsuit, Qualcomm wants to keep doing business – January 24, 2017
Why Apple, the FTC, and others are attacking Qualcomm’s royalty model – January 24, 2017
Here are the most damning parts of Apple’s blockbuster lawsuit against Qualcomm – January 23, 2017
Apple’s legal assault on Qualcomm part of iPhone margin grab – January 23, 2017
Qualcomm says Apple’s claims are ‘baseless’ in response to Cupertino’s $1 billion lawsuit – January 21, 2017
Apple sues Qualcomm for $1 billion over onerous licensing practices – January 20, 2017
Qualcomm exec says FTC ‘rushed’ antitrust lawsuit before President-elect Trump’s inauguration – January 19, 2017
FTC alleges Qualcomm forced Apple into iPhone LTE chip deals – January 18, 2017
FTC charges Qualcomm with monopolizing key smartphone chip; alleges extracted exclusivity from Apple in exchange for reduced patent royalties – January 17, 2017
As long as “settled out of court” means Qualcomm is conciliatory, lowers their rates, stop overreaching and grabbing at charging for components not theirs and generally behaving themselves as a responsible FRAND source should. (Though it might mean the Qualcomm CEO might own one less mansion & a yacht.)
Mollenkopf and Qualcom are pretending that their IP is non FRAND and trying to extort unreasonable and asymmetrical license fees from the companies who purchase their radio chips. That won’t stand up in court, particularly with the tidal wave of other impending litigation from overseas about the same illegal pricing tactics.
Could Qualcomm’s newly conciliatory attitude have something to do with THIS?
Apple accepts invitation by its contract manufacturers to join another Qualcomm fray
Feeling more FRANDly, Qualcomm?