Stefan Mileschin

No surrender

The lead attorney for the group of Apple device assemblers seeking at least $9 billion in damages from Qualcomm said on Sunday the contract manufacturers are not in settlement talks with the mobile chip supplier and are “gearing up and heading toward the trial” in April.

The action is part of a broader move by the fruity cargo cult to cut its margins by refusing to pay licensing fees on Qualcomm tech.

Last week, Qualcomm secured a preliminary victory in a patent lawsuit in China that would have banned sales of some Apple iPhones there. Apple later said it believed it was already in compliance but would change its software “to address any possible concern” about its compliance.

But Qualcomm was also handed a setback in an antitrust lawsuit brought against it by the US Federal Trade Commission when a judge said it would not be able to mention that Apple ditched Qualcomm chips for competing ones from Intel when the case goes to trial next month.

The group of contract manufacturers - which includes Foxconn parent Hon Hai Precision, Pegatron, Wistron and Compal Electronics - became embroiled in the dispute between Apple and Qualcomm last year.

In the supply chain for electronics, contract manufacturers buy Qualcomm chips and pay royalties when they build phones and are in turn reimbursed by companies like Apple. Qualcomm sued the group last year, alleging they had stopped paying fees related to Apple products, and Apple joined their defence.

https://fudzilla.com/news/mobile/477...-with-qualcomm