Apple Expands Lawsuit Against Qualcomm, Says License Agreements Invalid

Apple has expanded its lawsuit against Qualcomm arguing to a U.S. federal court that the license agreements that give Qualcomm a cut of every iPhone manufactured are invalid.

Back in January, Apple sued Qualcomm for allegedly withholding $1 billion in rebates because it complied with Korean regulators investigating Qualcomm. However, the company has now expanded that lawsuit on the heels of a Supreme Court ruling last month, reports Reuters.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Lexmark in a patent dispute over another company's resale of its used ink cartridges. Apple says this ruling invalids Qualcomm's practice of requiring customers to sign patent license agreements before purchasing chips. This practice is known as 'no license, no chips'. It allows Qualcomm to take a percentage of the selling price of the iPhone in exchange for supplying the chips.


Apple says that Qualcomm is only entitled to 'one reward'. They should be allowed to charge for either a patent license or a chip, but not both. So if Apple buys a chip from Qualcomm it shouldn't have to pay again to license the technology.

"They supply us with a single connectivity component, but for years have been demanding a percentage of the total cost of our products — effectively taxing Apple's innovation. We believe deeply in the value of intellectual property but we shouldn't have to pay them for technology breakthroughs they have nothing to do with. We've always been willing to pay a fair rate for standard technology used in our products and since they've refused to negotiate reasonable terms we're asking the courts for help."

Apple has also asked the court to stop lawsuits against its manufacturers which Qualcomm recently filed. It argued that the fight should be between the two companies.

Qualcomm says, "We intend to vigorously defend our business model, and pursue our right to protect and receive fair value for our technological contributions to the industry."


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