The fight between Apple and Qualcomm today won a new chapter.
As we already reported, the modem chipset maker wanted to ban imports of iPhones and iPads to the United States; in June, the United States International Trade Commission (U.S. International Trade Commission) began investigating the case and, in a pre-trial report, suggested that Apple infringed one of the four patents Qualcomm involved in the case. At the time, we informed that the decision would only come out in September. We are at the end of September and well, the decision came out.
In fact, the ITC claimed that Apple even infringed Qualcomm's patent on energy management technology; still, it denied the chip maker's request to ban imports of some iPhones (equipped with its chips) to the US. Thus, Qualcomm suffers a severe blow in its dispute with Ma.
Thomas Pender, ITC's administrative law judge, said that "public interest factors" weighed against the granting of Qualcomm's request. The determination, however, will still be analyzed by other judges.
An Apple spokesman made the following statement Reuters: "We are pleased that the ITC has stopped Qualcomm's attempt to harm competition and harm US innovators and consumers." Qualcomm has not responded to the request for comment.
It is worth noting that the iPhones XS, XS Max and XR do not use Qualcomm chips. Thus, even imagining a possible turnaround in the case (perhaps the other ITC judges disagreeing with the decision), such a measure would affect “only” the models 7, 7 Plus, 8 and 8 Plus of the iPhone currently sold on the iPhone X, which also used Qualcomm chips, the most commercialized by Apple.
Despite Qualcomm's defeat, the fight between them continues and everything indicates that we are still far from an end.
via MacRumors
