Taiwanese manufactures have joined Apple’s legal battle against Qualcomm, claiming the chipmaker violates anti-trust laws and charges steep fees for patent licenses.
In July, Qualcomm asked the US government to ban new iPhones from coming into the country; The United States Federal Trade Commission sued Qualcomm for anti-competitive practices.
Qualcomm was Apple’s primary supplier for smartphone modems, yet they didn’t have a direct patent deal; instead, Apple paid licensing fees to Foxconn Technology, Compal Electronics, Pegatron Qualcomm and Wistron Corp, who directly paid Qualcomm.
Apple stopped making payments to the four manufactures after suing Qualcomm in January for US$1billion, making the “manufactures involvement in the legal tussle seemingly inevitable”.
Qualcomm said in a recent statement that it “never withheld or threatened to withhold chip supply in order to obtain agreement to unfair or unreasonable licensing terms”.
The multinational technology company is said to be filing a separate motion to strengthen the manufacturer’s countersuit with its own, according to The Verge.
Written by Leah Alger
