Qualcomm steps up legal battle with Apple, asks iPhone ban

Washington : Qualcomm yesterday escalated its legal battle with Apple, filing a patent infringement lawsuit and requesting a ban on the importation of some iPhones, claiming unlawful and unfair use of the chipmaker’s technology.

Qualcomm said it filed two separate legal actions including a complaint asking for the iPhone import ban with the US International Trade Commission, a quasi-judicial government agency which hears cases involving trade disputes.

The complaint alleges that iPhones, which are made in China, should not be allowed to be brought into the United States if they infringe on Qualcomm’s patents.

The chipmaker also filed a complaint against Apple in the US District Court for Southern California seeking damages from the same patent infringement allegations.

“Qualcomm’s inventions are at the heart of every iPhone and extend well beyond modem technologies or cellular standards,” said Don Rosenberg, executive vice president and general counsel of Qualcomm.

“The patents we are asserting represent six important technologies, out of a portfolio of thousands, and each is vital to iPhone functions. Apple continues to use Qualcomm’s technology while refusing to pay for it.”