Qualcomm CEO for ‘out of court’ settlement with Apple

Qualcomm

San Francisco, July 18 – Global chip maker Qualcomm that recently filed a new patent infringement lawsuit against Apple now expects ‘out of court’ settlement with the Cupertino-based iPhone maker.

According to a Fortune report on Tuesday, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said during the Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, Colorado, that “those things tend to get resolved out of court and there’s no reason why I wouldn’t expect that to be the case here.”

He was comparing the dispute with Apple to earlier fights Qualcomm has had with other tech companies that were settled out of court.

Mollenkopf, however, added he didn’t have any specific news announcing a settlement was on the way.

“I don’t have an announcement or anything so please don’t ask,” he told the gathering.

Earlier in July, Qualcomm asked the US authorities to ban imports of some iPhone and iPad models.

Qualcomm filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission, accusing Apple’s iPhones and iPads of infringing six of its mobile patents.

Qualcomm said all iPhones and iPads that contain competing mobile communications chips should be barred from the country.

Apple responded to this, saying that the company had tried to negotiate before suing and that Qualcomm is abusing its position.

In April, Apple stopped paying royalties to contract manufacturers for phone patents owned by Qualcomm over an “unresolved issue”.

Apple reportedly stopped paying royalties starting with devices sold during the March quarter.

Qualcomm is one of the world’s biggest provider of mobile chips and derives revenue majorly from licensing that technology to hundreds of handset manufacturers and others.

The US chip manufacturer had lambasted Apple for breaching deals between the two companies and urged that the lawsuit filed in January against them by the iPhone maker should be rejected.

Qualcomm also accused Apple of harming its business and sought unspecified damages.

Apple sued Qualcomm in January for nearly one billion dollars over royalties, with the Cupertino-based tech giant alleging the wireless chipmaker that it did not give fair licensing terms for its processor technology.