Roger Fingas
Mobile chipmaker Qualcomm has filed multiple lawsuits in China, looking to block both sales and manufacturing of iPhones in the country — something that would cripple Apple worldwide, if successful.
The suits were filed through a Beijing intellectual property court and allege patent infringement, Bloomberg reported on Friday. It wasn't immediately clear what patents are involved.
The two companies are involved in a global legal battle, however, kickstarted by a South Korean antitrust ruling last year. Apple subsequently sued Qualcomm, accusing it of withholding nearly $1 billion in rebates as retaliation for cooperating with Korean officials. Since then Apple has ordered its suppliers to stop paying royalties, and Qualcomm has launched countersuits.
Various government bodies have pursued Qualcomm over its business practices, like Apple accusing it of abusing market dominance to impose unfair terms. Most recently the Taiwanese Fair Trade Commission leveled a $773 million fine, also forcing the company to remove offending terms from earlier client contracts.
Apple can't afford to lose the Chinese suits, as the iPhone is its primary revenue source, and the vast majority of units are assembled in China before being shipped elsewhere. Manufacturing in India is in its earliest stages, limited to the iPhone SE.
It will likely take weeks or months before Chinese legal action makes progress. Apple will probably fight to have the cases dismissed if at all possible.
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
25 Comments
Good luck with that¡
Wow...with a team of such dedicated top level Qualcomm managers and lawyers, the company does not even have to have enemies.
Why are they keep looking for more trouble? Is it not enough of a problem for them that they started a shit-storm already, so they are looking for the ways to intensify it?
Would China really support the stopping of so much manufacturing and consequently loss of jobs and investment?
Wall Street doesn’t seem to care