According to a report by Bloomberg this morning, Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:$QCOM) has filed a lawsuit against technology behemoth Apple (NASDAQ:$AAPL) in its continuing legal battle over patents. More specifically, this lawsuit is looking to block the manufacturing and sale of iPhones in China.
This is significant news as it is another shot at Apple as the two companies continue to fight with Apple regarding payments for its technology. Back in January, Apple filed a $1 billion lawsuit with Qualcomm, and both companies are still hoping to take the fight to courts. In August, the U.S. International Trade Commission said it was looking into claims that Apple is violating some of its patents in regards to mobile technology in some of its mobile devices.
For those who don’t know, Qualcomm is one of the biggest chip producers in the world. Some of their technology include the Snapdragon, and the Snapdragon 835 is present in Google’s (NASDAQ:$GOOGL) next Pixel phone. Therefore, fighting with one of the biggest mobile device manufacturers in the world is a difficult situation for Qualcomm. In fact, since the saga started, Qualcomm’s stock has plunged and is down 19% on the year.
“The reason that we’re pursuing this is that Qualcomm‘s trying to charge Apple a percentage of the total iPhone value, and they do some really great work around standards-essential patents, but it’s one small part of what an iPhone is,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said earlier this year. “It’s not — it has nothing to do with the display or the Touch ID or a gazillion other innovations that Apple has done. And so we don’t think that’s right. And so we’re taking a principled stand on it, and we strongly believe we’re in the right. And I’m sure they believe that they are, and that’s what courts are for. And we’ll let it go with that.”
It is worth mentioning that the Bloomberg report stated that Qualcomm filed the lawsuit in China so we might end up seeing this play out differently than we would see in the United States courts. All in all, this is just another step in the ongoing battle between Apple and Qualcomm.
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