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Qualcomm Says Apple To Stop Paying Royalties (reuters.com)

Posted by msmash on from the on-hold dept.

Apple has decided to withhold royalty payments to its contract manufacturers that are owed to Qualcomm, until a legal dispute between the companies is resolved, the chipmaker said on Friday. From a report: Qualcomm, the largest maker of chips used in smartphones, said it will not receive royalties from Apple's contract manufacturers for sales made during the quarter ended March 31. San Diego, California-based Qualcomm also slashed its profit and revenue forecasts for the current quarter, to account for the lost royalty revenue.

3 of 58 comments (clear)

  1. Fair terms ? by Alain+Williams · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Apple also noted it had been trying to reach a licensing agreement with Qualcomm for more than five years, but said Qualcomm had refused to negotiate "fair terms".

    That is a really interesting view Apple — some people would not view some of what you do as 'fair terms', for instance stopping 3rd party repairs. So: why one rule for you and another for others ?

  2. Drive them into the sea! by hackel · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I despise Apple, but I hate Qualcomm even more. They should have stuck to email clients. Their "royalties" are complete bullshit. I wish that Apple, Samsung, and others would get together to push an open standard manufacturers could use without these ridiculous royalty payments that always get passed on to the consumer.

  3. Not just Apple by Guspaz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It seems like everybody is suing or has sued Qualcomm these days, directly or indirectly. Apple, Korean anti-trust regulators on behalf of Samsung, BlackBerry, the FTC (anti-trust violations), Meizu, Broadcom...

    Basically, Qualcomm managed to get a bunch of standard-essential patents, and then used those to build a near monopoly by refusing FRAND licensing like they're required to. There is a reason why Samsung phones use Samsung chips in most countries, but Qualcomm chips in North America, and that's Qualcomm's patent abuse.

    So, say what you will about Apple, but they're just the most visible victim.