Apple Sues Qualcomm For $1 Billion

Just days after the United States Federal Trade Commission sued Qualcomm for antitrust violations, Apple is joining in.

On Friday, Apple said it was suing the San Diego-based chipmaker, seeking $1 billion damages. Apple said Qualcomm "has unfairly insisted on charging royalties for technologies they have nothing to do with."

"The more Apple innovates with unique features such as TouchID, advanced displays, and cameras, to name just a few, the more money Qualcomm collects for no reason and the more expensive it becomes for Apple to fund these innovations," Apple said in a statement. "Qualcomm built its business on older, legacy, standards but reinforces its dominance through exclusionary tactics and excessive royalties. Despite being just one of over a dozen companies who contributed to basic cellular standards, Qualcomm insists on charging Apple at least five times more in payments than all the other cellular patent licensors we have agreements with combined."

The lawsuit follows a complaint against Qualcomm earlier this week by the FTC that centers around its licensing business. Qualcomm is the dominant supplier of modem chips that enable phones to connect to cellular networks, and the company extracts licensing fees for nearly every modern phone in the world. The FTC said the San Diego-based chipmaker uses its dominant position to maintain an illegal monopoly at the expense of partners like Apple.

A major part of the FTC's allegations centered around Qualcomm's relations with Apple. The FTC said Qualcomm established an exclusivity agreement with Apple from 2011 until 2016. Qualcomm provided "billions" in rebates to Apple for the arrangement. But if Apple bought modem chips from another chip supplier during that time, the FTC said, Apple would face large penalties by losing out on Qualcomm's rebate payments.

Apple also claimed on Friday that Qualcomm has retaliated for cooperating with a Korean investigation against the chipmaker. "To protect this business scheme Qualcomm has taken increasingly radical steps, most recently withholding nearly $1B in payments from Apple as retaliation for responding truthfully to law enforcement agencies investigating them," Apple claimed.

Last month, South Korea fined Qualcomm $890 million for what it described as monopolistic tactics.

"Apple believes deeply in innovation and we have always been willing to pay fair and reasonable rates for patents we use," Apple said in the statement. "We are extremely disappointed in the way Qualcomm is conducting its business with us and unfortunately after years of disagreement over what constitutes a fair and reasonable royalty we have no choice left but to turn to the courts."

Qualcomm's stock dropped nearly 2.5% Friday following Apple's announcement..

Qualcomm did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Here's Apple's full statement:

    For many years Qualcomm has unfairly insisted on charging royalties for technologies they have nothing to do with. The more Apple innovates with unique features such as TouchID, advanced displays, and cameras, to name just a few, the more money Qualcomm collects for no reason and the more expensive it becomes for Apple to fund these innovations. Qualcomm built its business on older, legacy, standards but reinforces its dominance through exclusionary tactics and excessive royalties. Despite being just one of over a dozen companies who contributed to basic cellular standards, Qualcomm insists on charging Apple at least five times more in payments than all the other cellular patent licensors we have agreements with combined.

    To protect this business scheme Qualcomm has taken increasingly radical steps, most recently withholding nearly $1B in payments from Apple as retaliation for responding truthfully to law enforcement agencies investigating them.

    Apple believes deeply in innovation and we have always been willing to pay fair and reasonable rates for patents we use. We are extremely disappointed in the way Qualcomm is conducting its business with us and unfortunately after years of disagreement over what constitutes a fair and reasonable royalty we have no choice left but to turn to the courts.

Photo credit: Forbes