Qualcomm owes Apple nearly $1bn, says US judge
US chipmaker Qualcomm owes Apple nearly $1 billion (£754.5 million) in patent royalty rebate payments, according to a preliminary ruling from a US judge.
In a preliminary ruling yesterday, March 14, Judge Gonzalo Curiel of the US District Court for the Southern District of California sided with Apple and said there was no evidence the company had violated an agreement it had with Qualcomm.
Under a Business Cooperation and Patent Agreement (BCPA) between the two companies dated 2013, Qualcomm made “sizable quarterly payments to Apple, so long as Apple did not initiate or induce certain types of litigation or investigations”.
In 2017, Apple filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm for breaking the agreement, alleging that it owed nearly $1 billion in patent royalty rebates after Qualcomm stopped making payments to Apple.
Qualcomm counterclaimed, and said Apple had broken the agreement by urging other smartphone makers to file complaints with the Korean Fair Trade Commission, which was investigating Qualcomm over antitrust allegations.
But, in yesterday’s ruling, Curiel determined that Apple did not file its 2017 lawsuit against Qualcomm for breaking the agreement during the time period of the BCPA, which ended on 31 December 2016.
"Qualcomm’s position that Apple’s filing of this lawsuit released Qualcomm from its payment obligations already accrued is without merit," Curiel said.
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