Qualcomm Fires Back at Apple in Legal Battle Over Smartphone Technology

By Ted Greenwald

Qualcomm Inc. fired back at Apple Inc. in their legal battle, defending its business model and seeking damages from Apple over withheld payments for technology used in iPhones.

Qualcomm, whose chips and patents are widely used in smartphones, accused Apple of mischaracterizing the chipmaker's business and encouraging international regulators to attack it.

The filing, which Qualcomm said it made late Monday in a federal court in Southern California, argues that Apple's iPhone business wouldn't exist had Qualcomm not developed essential technologies and agreed to license them fairly. The iPhone accounted for three-fourths of Apple's estimated $84 billion gross profit in its latest fiscal year, according to investment bank CLSA.

Apple didn't immediately respond to request for comment late Monday.

Apple opened its legal battle in January by suing Qualcomm in the U.S., and later in China and the U. K. -- building on international resistance to Qualcomm's patent-licensing business that has included antitrust investigations and fines in China, Europe, South Korea and the U.S.

Apple's U.S. suit claimed that Qualcomm abused its monopoly position in cellular chips to impose "onerous, unreasonable and costly" terms on customers and competitors. It also said that Qualcomm charged too much for its patents and refused to sell chips to phone makers that didn't license its patent portfolio.

Qualcomm's filing denies Apple's allegations, and says Qualcomm went out of its way to offer Apple alternatives in its licensing terms,which Apple refused.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 10, 2017 23:39 ET (03:39 GMT)

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