Qualcomm has raised the stakes in its ongoing legal battle with Apple by filing a new lawsuit with potentially enormous ramifications.
In the suit filed on Wednesday, Qualcomm claims Apple breached the terms of a software agreement in an attempt to assist its chief rival Intel.
While the details of the suit are scarce right now, Bloomberg reports Apple “made an email request for proprietary information from Qualcomm and included an Intel engineer on the distribution list.”
Related: iPhone X
In the filing, Qualcomm says Apple demand “unprecedented access” to its “very valuable and highly confidential software.”
It adds that “Apple has failed to comply with the restrictions on access and use that Qualcomm required in exchange for Apple’s unprecedented access to software and source code.”
Qualcomm out, Intel in?
Intel now makes some of the modems for iPhone handsets, so the allegations Qualcomm is making are serious to say the least.
Recent reports have claimed Apple is planning to ditch Qualcomm completely for the 2018 iPhone handsets, given the recent strife between the two firms.
Qualcomm’s latest move is part of its countersuit against the antitrust claims Apple filed against it earlier this year.
Cupertino’s legal team sued Qualcomm for $1 billion claiming that the company’s patent licensing practices abused its position as the world’s leading chipmaker.
Although Apple doesn’t use Snapdragon processors in its iPhones, it’s still on the hook for many of the patents Qualcomm owns.
However, Apple has now cut off those payments, costing Qualcomm an estimated $2 billion a year in revenue.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
