Qualcomm is attempting to ban the sale of some iPhones in the US, claiming that Apple iPhones using chips by rival mobile-phone chipmakers, such as Intel, infringes on six of its patents.
The patents are related to energy-saving features on the iPhone, which Qualcomm claims Apple has used without the chipmaker’s permission.
The complaint is being filed with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) and the US District Court for the Southern District of California. Qualcomm said it hoped the ITC to begin an investigation next month.
“Qualcomm’s inventions are at the heart of every iPhone and extend well beyond modem technologies or cellular standards,” Don Rosenberg, Qualcomm’s general counsel, says in a statement.
“Apple continues to use Qualcomm’s technology while refusing to pay for it,” he added.
The complaint is the latest in a series of lawsuits and disputes between Apple and Qualcomm.
Earlier this year Apple filed two lawsuits against the chipmaker over claims that the company had abused its dominance in the market to charge “disproportionately high” fees for the use of its patents.
According to Business Insider, JPMorgan analyst Tom Hall wrote in a note to clients:
“Qualcomm said that it expects the ITC to start its investigation in August. We note that in the Cisco-Arista ITC case of, which was filed in Dec 2014, it took nearly 18 months before the ITC could issue a cease and detest order. We suspect that Qualcomm-Apple ITC investigation could take similar amount of time to process.”
“Qualcomm is requesting the ITC to issue a Limited Exclusion Order (LEO) to bar importation of the iPhone and other products that infringe on Qualcomm’s patents. Qualcomm is seeking this LEO against iPhones that do not use baseband processors from the company,” Hall said.
“We note that Apple ships ~31% of iPhones into the US. Of these shipments in to the US, we believe that ~55% do not use Qualcomm’s baseband. Overall, we believe that ~17% of total iPhone volume is exposed to the ITC complaint filed by Qualcomm,” he added.
