Apparently, legal troubles for Qualcomm have quickly escalated, as Apple has also filed a suit against it with respect to its antitrust violations, as has been done by the US FTC.
According to the information released by Apple, Qualcomm has been sued by it, because the San Diego-based chipmaker has been in practice of exacting royalties with regard to the technologies with which it has no link with it, claiming damages worth $1 billion.
The statement said:
“For many years Qualcomm has unfairly insisted on charging royalties for technologies they have nothing to do with. The more Apple innovates with unique features such as TouchID, advanced displays, and cameras, to name just a few, the more money Qualcomm collects for no reason and the more expensive it becomes for Apple to fund these innovations. Qualcomm built its business on older, legacy, standards but reinforces its dominance through exclusionary tactics and excessive royalties. Despite being just one of over a dozen companies who contributed to basic cellular standards, Qualcomm insists on charging Apple at least five times more in payments than all the other cellular patent licensors we have agreements with combined.”
It continued saying:
“Apple believes deeply in innovation and we have always been willing to pay fair and reasonable rates for patents we use. We are extremely disappointed in the way Qualcomm is conducting its business with us and unfortunately after years of disagreement over what constitutes a fair and reasonable royalty we have no choice left but to turn to the courts.”
