Qualcomm Seeks To Ban Imports And Sales of Apple iPhones in New Lawsuit (cnbc.com)

Chipmaker Qualcomm is asking U.S. trade regulators to ban iPhone imports, according to a new lawsuit. From a report: Apple has allegedly infringed on six of Qualcomm's patents, including technology that improves iPhone battery life, according to Qualcomm. Now Qualcomm wants Apple to pay damages. "Apple continues to use Qualcomm's technology while refusing to pay for it," Don Rosenberg, executive vice president and general counsel of Qualcomm, said in a statement. Qualcomm ultimately wants regulators to investigate which phones use cellular processors from Qualcomm's competitors, and halt sales of iPhones that violate the patents. Qualcomm said it has filed complaints in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California and with the United States International Trade Commission. It's not immediately clear how many iPhones that would affect.

Comments

SSDD

[swimboy]

This is the same argument that it's always been. Qualcomm has patents that are necessary to use cellular networks, and in return for making them standards, they've agreed to license them (either in their chips or their competitors) for "reasonable" amounts of money. Unfortunately for Apple, Qualcomm is trying to charge a license for a percentage of the final value of the phone, instead of a unit price per radio. They've been in court several times to determine if Qualcomm is being "reasonable" or not.

It seems a pretty specious argument to me. Just like the article says, you don't charge somebody more for a sofa just because they want to put it in a more expensive house.

Re:SSDD

[jonsmirl]

You are confused. Qualcomm is mad that their monopoly at Apple is being broken up by Apple using Intel's cell modems. So to get back at Apple the are accusing Apple patent infringement in another part of the iPhone developed by Apple, not Intel.

Personally I am very tired of the damage patent monopolies are doing to the US cell phone market. There are 100+ makers of cell phones in China. Only six or seven manufacturers sell in the US. LTE modems for the Chinese LTE bands are $15, same modem of US bands are $60. Average US cellphone pays $35 in patent royalties. Major cell phone companies like Xiaomi won't even enter the US market. in 2012 one sixth of all US patents were on cell phones.

And the future is bleak. All of these patents serve to keep US cell prices very high compared to rest of the world. This is going to end up destroying the developing market for cell connected IOT devices. The patent mess and high prices as so bad that completely independent cell technology (LORA/SIGFOX) is being developed to bypass the existing cell network.

Re:How many? Perhaps none.

[Anonymous Coward]

In fairness, this is the karma train hitting Apple. They tried to pull this same shit with Samsung over goddamn rounded corners.

Correction...

[BronsCon]

Apple continues to use Qualcomm's technology while refusing to pay for it twice

Someone makes the chips Apple uses in their phones. Those chips implement Qualcomm's patented technologies and whoever makes them, therefore, must be licensing those technologies, which means they're paying for them and passing that cost along to Apple who, by paying for the chips which incorporate Qualcomm's technologies, made by the company who already paid for Qualcomm's technologies, has already paid for the use of Qualcomm's technologies.

I realize that's hard for some people (namely Qualcomm's leadership and council) to follow, so let's look at a similar situation with a different type of product.

Coca-Cola uses high fructose corn syrup in their products. They buy this high fructose corn syrup from a supplier. They pay for this high fructose corn syrup when they buy it, then they incorporate it into their products, which they then sell to stores. The stores, then, sell the products to consumers. The stores do not owe the high fructose corn syrup manufacturer anything for the use and sale of their product, because Coca-Cola already paid for that.

Rephrased to fit the Qualcomm situation, with edits bolded to make them clear:

Chip manufacturers use Qualcomm technologies in their products. They license these Qualcomm technologies from a Qualcomm. They pay for these Qualcomm technologies when they license them, then they incorporate them into their products, which they then sell to Apple. Apple, then, sells the products to consumers. Apple does not owe Qualcomm anything for the use and sale of their technologies, because the chip manufacturers already paid for that.