The Apple vs Qualcomm legal battle has reached a higher pitch with the chip maker bringing in fresh accusations against Apple over infringement of at least six patents. That is not all as Qualcomm is also pushing for banning of import of several iPad and iPhone models in the US along with a similar ban on sales of such models that have already been imported in the US.
According to Qualcomm, Apple stands accused of infringing on half a dozen of Qualcomm’s patents that allows iPhones to save a few ounces of battery juice when communicating. Another of Qualcomm patent that Apple is accused of illegally infringing upon deals with carrier aggregation technologies that allow for a combination of available spectrum channels to achieve higher data transfer speeds.
The ban being sought by Qualcomm covers a few iPad and iPhone models from AT&T and T-Mobile that come integrated with LTE chips from Intel. Those also include the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus as well.
However, any ban, if and when imposed, isn’t likely to come into effect within the next 18-months at the least. That ensures the upcoming iPhone and other devices Apple is expected to come up with during this fall will be exempted from the import ban, if at all that comes into force.
Apple had earlier filed a lawsuit against the chip maker in January accusing it of unfairly charging billions worth of royalties they are not entitled to. The FTC too has accused Qualcomm of following anticompetitive patent licensing practices.
Qualcomm too had filed counter lawsuits wherein it accused Apple of breaching licensing terms they had agreed to earlier. The company also accused the iPhone maker of instigating others to rebel against Qualcomm and similarly stop paying royalties as well.
Apple has said it will wait for a final court verdict before it resumes paying any pending royalties. The Cupertino-based company stated it wants the courts to finalize the amount it owes to Qualcomm as royalty dues.
