Qualcomm sues Apple over iPhone sales and manufacturing in China

Chipmaker Qualcomm has sued Apple in China to stop selling and manufacturing iPhones in the country. The American company confirms this to financial news agency Bloomberg.

According to Qualcomm, Apple is illegally using three patents, the news agency reports. These include patents for Force Touch and power management. A Qualcomm spokesperson says Apple is “using the technologies without paying for them” and that it is adopting more Qualcomm technologies to “improve its devices and increase its profits.”

Apple makes most of its iPhones in China, and the phones represent two-thirds of its sales, according to Bloomberg. A ban would therefore have far-reaching consequences. A legal battle between Qualcomm and Apple has been going on for some time, causing the chipmaker’s profits to fall sharply in the summer. In the legal battle, Apple accuses the chip designer of abusing its dominant position and charging too much money for the use of patents. The lawsuit came after it became known that the US Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint against Qualcomm, alleging the company misused its patents on network chips and engaged in unfair business practices.

Apple refuses to pay license fees during the lawsuits. Qualcomm itself has filed several patent cases against the iPhone maker and demanded an import ban on iPhones in the US and Germany. Earlier this year, Blackberry won a fee lawsuit against Qualcomm. As a result, the chip designer had to return $940 million in overpaid license fees to Blackberry. Qualcomm was recently fined €650 million by the Taiwanese Fair Trade Commission for misusing its patents.