The ongoing legal battle between Apple & Qualcomm continues, and for those unaware of what’s been happening, to some up, Apple is refusing to pay royalties on Standard Essential Patents (SEP). The royalties come from Qualcomm’s development of the 3G, 4G and 5G technologies and Apple believe they do not owe the innovators the claim.
Apple is renowned for developing innovative devices that are used across the globe. While Apple develops the interface and operating systems, the mobile phone titan did rely heavily on other patented technologies to solve problems while designing their phones. Issues such as signal strength, power management and user interface use innovations from Qualcomm, in essence, Apple’s iPhones would just be expensive iPods if it wasn’t for these technologies.
Apple is currently battling Qualcomm with the claim that the IP licensing fees Qualcomm charges on phones are unfair on the more premium smartphone manufacturers (Apple). While the licensing fees are in conjunction with current 3GPP guidelines, the claim made by Apple have raised questions, and now several government regulatory investigations are being conducted.
But regardless of the most recent agreement made but the government and Qualcomm, Apple and its new modem supplier Intel are unhappy and battling Qualcomm to the end.
While currently selling phones with the Qualcomm IP, Apple’s bold decision to stop paying the negotiated license fees has caused Qualcomm to defend its intellectual property rights forcibly. In a reaction, Qualcomm has spoken out and said that Apple has passed along proprietary technology to Intel which will make Intel’s version function better for Apple.
This certainly is a clash of the Titan of the business world, the world’s richest company Apple is battling one of the globes most dependable companies which a lot of the business industry depend on. Apple has been known to bully smaller companies into giving them better prices and giving in, but this allegation is different and Apple may have just met their match.
Richard Meadow is a writer that works on topics in relation to employment, business operations and litigation solicitors Manchester. He is always interested in new subjects and articles to read about and enjoys writing about them. His current interest is around corporate solicitors Manchester and news related to this topic