Earlier this year, Apple filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm claiming that the company had been overcharging them in royalties for technologies that they have nothing to do with. Apple even alleged that Qualcomm had withheld payments to Apple as a form of “punishment” for cooperating with the Korea Fair Trade Commission.In what feels a bit ironic, a report from Bloomberg has revealed that Apple is now the one who is withholding payments to Qualcomm over royalties for patents used. As a result, Qualcomm claims that they will now have to revise its financials and lower forecasts due to the lack of revenue from the royalties that they were expected to receive.
According to Don Rosenberg, Qualcomm’s general counsel, “While Apple has acknowledged that payment is owed for the use of Qualcomm’s valuable intellectual property, it nevertheless continues to interfere with our contracts. Apple has now unilaterally declared the contract terms unacceptable; the same terms that have applied to iPhones and cellular-enabled iPads for a decade.”
Apple has also issued a statement which reads, “We’ve been trying to reach a licensing agreement with Qualcomm for more than five years but they have refused to negotiate fair terms. Without an agreed-upon rate to determine how much is owed, we have suspended payments until the correct amount can be determined by the court. As we’ve said before, Qualcomm’s demands are unreasonable and they have been charging higher rates based on our innovation, not their own.”
In the meantime it doesn’t look like this spat between both companies will be coming to a close anytime soon, especially since Qualcomm has filed their own countersuit against Apple.