A new day, a new development in Apple and Qualcomm's seemingly unending legal tussle. A report by Reuters claims the latter is, again, seeking an injunction to ban the sale of certain iPhone models in the U.S.
The chipmaker has already tried to do so before, and while the International Trade Commission judge overseeing Qualcomm's earlier complaint, Thomas Pender, had acknowledged that Apple violated one of the company's patents, he refused to ban the sale of iPhones for fear of giving Qualcomm a monopoly in the U.S. market.
Since then, Qualcomm has successfully been able to secure partial bans on the sale of iPhones in both China and Germany, and is now looking to overturn the earlier ruling in the U.S.
Further complicating matters is Apple's recent admission that it had found an alternative software fix for the patent in question, and is now asking the ITC to give it a six-month buffer period to demonstrate the viability of the fix. Of course, Qualcomm is taking issue with this request, and in particular, highlighted the fact that the earlier judgement was a result of Apple's claims that no other fix was possible. It said,
“Pender recommended against a remedy on the assumption that the (Qualcomm) patent would preclude Apple from using Intel as a supplier for many years and that no redesign was feasible. Apple now admits—more than seven months after the hearing—that the alleged harm is entirely avoidable.”
Apple, for its part, suggested it only found the fix after the trial was over.
The ITC had already indicated back in December that it would be looking into whether the decision to not impose a ban despite clear proof of patent infringement was the correct one. The San Diego-based semiconductor manufacturer is therefore asking that Apple's request for a six-month stay not be granted, should the Commission decide to finally implement a ban anyway.
Source: Reuters
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