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9 August 2017

USITC to investigate Qualcomm complaint in Apple war

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) has announced plans to probe Apple over allegations of patent infringement.

In July this year, semiconductor company Qualcomm  filed a complaint with the ITC, accusing Apple of infringing six of its patents in the iPhone model and requesting a ban on imports.

The complaint related to six patents: US numbers 8,633,936; 8,698,558; 8,487,658; 8,838,949; 9,535,490; and 9,608,675, which “enable high performance in a smartphone while extending battery life”.

Yesterday, August 8, the ITC  announced that it would institute an investigation into the mobiles, including the iPhone 7, and specific components for such devices, such as baseband processor modems.

A lobbying group representing major technology companies including Google, Amazon and Samsung, had urged US authorities to reject Qualcomm’s request for a ban on iPhone imports.

The requested ban would “hurt consumers” according to the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), which  filed comments with the ITC.

“Qualcomm is already using its dominant position to pressure competitors and tax competing products,” said CCIA president and CEO Ed Black.

The ITC complaint was just one of the many twists in the patent tussle between the two companies—at the same time as filing the ITC complaint, Qualcomm filed a suit at the US District Court for the Southern District of California.

It alleged infringement of the same patents, and sought damages and injunctive relief for the “unauthorised use” of said patents.

In January this year, Apple sued Qualcomm  for approximately $1 billion, alleging that Qualcomm was “charging royalties for technologies they have nothing to do with”.

Qualcomm filed a counterclaim in April, stating that Apple had “failed” to uphold its share of the bargain in a business co-operation and patent agreement between the companies.

Apple subsequently followed up with a  request to invalidate a number of Qualcomm patents in June.

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