“Qualcomm Inc. shouldn’t be able to use a U.S. trade agency to knock out Intel Corp. as a competitor for chips inside Apple Inc.’s smartphones, a group of Apple consumers said in a court filing Thursday,” Susan Decker reports for Bloomberg. “Consumers in a consolidated class action lawsuit accusing Qualcomm of antitrust violations want District Court Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, to prevent the company from pursuing any import ban that might be imposed on Apple phones using Intel chips.”
“Qualcomm has filed patent-infringement complaints against Apple at the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, with a preliminary decision in one case expected in September. It’s part of a global billion-dollar battle between the companies over how much Apple should pay for access to Qualcomm’s technology used in mobile phones,” Decker reports. “An import ban ‘would freeze out Intel’s nascent challenge to Qualcomm’s illegal monopoly,’ the consumers said. It ‘would injure competition in a market already suffering from Qualcomm’s anticompetitive [sic] behavior.'”
Decker reports, “The consumers filed their suits to piggyback on one filed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission which claimed Qualcomm was misusing its patents and market power to shut out competitors, particularly for Apple devices.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Hopefully, the Qualcomm extortionists will get their comeuppance sooner than later!
Qualcomm’s unreasonable, illogical, and irrational licensing scam, which charges a percentage of the total cost of all components in the phone, even non-Qualcomm components, must end.
SEE ALSO:
Apple petitions U.S. Patent Office to invalidate four Qualcomm patents – June 22, 2018
Apple brings 5G and national security into Qualcomm patent battle – June 18, 2018
Analyst: Apple, Qualcomm legal fight could settle this year – June 11, 2018
Apple CEO Tim Cook to be deposed in Qualcomm lawsuit – April 6, 2018
Judge Koh sets aside sanctions order against Apple in FTC v. Qualcomm antitrust case – February 8, 2018
Apple gets support from Lawyers for Civil Justice in fight against discovery sanctions – February 1, 2018
EU fines chipmaker Qualcomm $1.2 billion for paying Apple to shut out rivals’ chips – January 24, 2018
Apple sanctioned in Qualcomm FTC case for withholding documents – December 22, 2017
Apple countersues Qualcomm for patent infringement – November 29, 2017
Apple designing next-gen iPhones, iPads that would dump Qualcomm components – October 31, 2017
Qualcomm faces long odds in attempt to get ban of iPhone sales and manufacturing in China – October 17, 2017
Qualcomm files lawsuits seeking China iPhone ban, escalating Apple legal fight – October 13, 2017
Qualcomm fined record $773 million in Taiwan antitrust probe – October 11, 2017
Apple faces down Qualcomm, Ericsson over EU patent fees – October 2, 2017
Qualcomm loses two key rulings in its patent royalty fight with Apple – September 21, 2017
Apple’s A11 Bionic obliterates top chips from Qualcomm, Samsung and Huawei – September 18, 2017
U.S. judge rules Apple lawsuits against Qualcomm can proceed – September 8, 2017
Qualcomm CEO expects out of court settlement with Apple – July 18, 2017
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
Patents are a legal monopoly.
Qualcomm, by submitting them to a standards body under FRAND terms weakened that position.
That’s why lawyers.
Qualcomm sought to make its components ubiquitous by submitting its IP to be incorporated into industry standards. In return for embedding Qualcomm’s IP into those standards, Qualcomm agree to FRAND constraints on its licensing/pricing policies. But Qualcomm wants to have it both ways – they want their components to be required to use the standard, but avoid FRAND and extort companies for more money.
Well, Apple is not willing to play that game anymore. And Qualcomm’s refusal to negotiate with Apple will ultimately hurt the company much more than if they had voluntarily adjusted their policies. Karma at work once again!
That’s why lawyers…