Apple countersues Qualcomm for patent infringement

Here we go again. Apple has filed a countersuit against Qualcomm, the world’s dominant supplier of baseband processors, alleging patent infringement and seeks unspecified damages. The tech giant says Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 and 820 processors, found in Android phones from Samsung and Alphabet, infringe on battery life patents owned by Apple. 

The infringement claims appear in Apple’s revised response to Qualcomm’s suit accusing Apple of infringement. In January, Apple filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm, alleging the chip supplier demanded unfair terms for its technology.  However, Qualcomm denies the allegations and says Apple wouldn’t have an iPhone business if it weren’t for fair licensing of the company’s essential tech.

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.

Then, in November, Qualcomm sued Apple, accusing the Cupertino, California-based company of sharing chip code with Intel. The lawsuit claims that Apple breached contract with Qualcomm in regard to software that’s required to allow mobile chips to interact with the rest of a phone.