Apple can’t pull back docs in its battle with Qualcomm

Law360 reports that a California federal judge has ruled that Apple can’t “claw back” dozens of documents turned over in its patent battle with Qualcomm, the world’s dominant supplier of baseband processors.

This is the latest chapter in the ongoing battle. In January 2017 Apple sued Qualcomm, alleging the chip supplier demanded unfair terms for its technology (which the company, of course, denied). Around the same time, the Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint in a federal district court charging the supplier of baseband processors with using anticompetitive tactics to maintain its monopoly in the supply of a key semiconductor device used in cell phones and other consumer products. 

Qualcomm claims it went out of its way to offer alternative licensing (which Apple rejected), and that, in suing Qualcomm, Apple is motivated by reducing the cost to make iPhones.