Apple stops license payments to Qualcomm during lawsuit

Apple has announced that it will no longer make license payments to American chip designer Qualcomm until a judge rules on the amount of the payments. A legal battle between the companies has been going on for some time.

An Apple spokesperson explained the rationale for the decision to Reuters news agency: “Without an agreed ratio to determine how much to pay, Apple has suspended all payments until a judge determines the correct amount.” A Qualcomm spokesperson countered that “Apple has unilaterally stated that the contract terms are unacceptable, even though they have applied to iPhones and iPads with SIM cards for ten years.”

In its own press release, Qualcomm further writes that Apple withholds payments to its own manufacturers for the license fees that the manufacturers owe to Qualcomm licenses. As a result of the decision, the chip designer has had to lower its profit expectations by about half a billion dollars to a maximum of $5.6 billion, Reuters said.

Apple sued Qualcomm in January for allegedly violating rules in licensing its patents. That’s why the Cupertino company wants Qualcomm to pay back a billion dollars and have a number of patents declared invalid. According to Apple, Qualcomm is abusing its monopoly on the market for mobile chips. In response to this action, the chip designer then filed its own suit this month, in which the company demanded compensation from Apple for failing to fulfill its agreements.