Qualcomm Inc has filed lawsuits in China seeking to ban the sale and manufacture of iPhones in the country, the chipmaker’s biggest shot at Apple Inc so far in a sprawling and bitter legal fight.
The San Diego-based company aims to inflict pain on Apple in the world’s largest market for smartphones and cut off production in a country where most iPhones are made.
The product provides almost two-thirds of Apple’s revenue.
Photo: AFP
Qualcomm filed the suits in a Beijing intellectual property court claiming patent infringement and seeking injunctive relief, company spokeswoman Christine Trimble said.
“Apple employs technologies invented by Qualcomm without paying for them,” Trimble said.
Qualcomm’s suits are based on three non-standard essential patents, it said.
They cover power management and a touch-screen technology called Force Touch that Apple uses in its iPhones, Qualcomm said.
The inventions “are a few examples of the many Qualcomm technologies that Apple uses to improve its devices and increase its profits,” Trimble said.
Apple said the claim has no merit.
“In our many years of ongoing negotiations with Qualcomm, these patents have never been discussed,” Apple spokesman Josh Rosenstock said. “Like their other courtroom maneuvers, we believe this latest legal effort will fail.”
Qualcomm made the filings at the Beijing court on Sept. 29. The court has not yet made them public.
There is little or no precedent for a Chinese court taking such action at the request of a US company, Canaccord Genuity Inc analyst Mike Walkley said.
Chinese regulators would also be concerned that a halt of iPhone production would cause layoffs at Apple’s suppliers, such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海), which are major employers.
Conversely, supporting Qualcomm might help Chinese smartphone manufacturers, such as Guangdong Oppo Electronics Co (廣東歐珀), to gain market share against Apple, Walkley said.
Qualcomm and Apple are months into a legal dispute that centers on the former’s technology licensing business.
However, the latest suits come at a crucial time for Apple, as suppliers and assemblers in China are rushing to churn out as many iPhone 8 and iPhone X models as possible ahead of the holiday season, so any disruptions would likely be costly.
The Greater China region accounted for 22.5 percent of Apple’s US$215.6 billion sales in its most recent financial year.
The legal battle started earlier this year when Apple filed an antitrust suit against Qualcomm arguing that the chipmaker’s licensing practices are unfair, and that it abused its position as the biggest supplier of chips in phones.
Qualcomm has countered with a patent suit and argued that Apple encouraged regulators from South Korea to the US to take action against it based on false testimony.
Earlier this week, Qualcomm was fined a record NT$23.4 billion (US$775 million) by Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission, a ruling the company is appealing.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from