Oliver Haslam on February 7, 2019, 6:28 am

German Court Rules Apple Not Liable For Pre-Lawsuit Patent Damages Claimed By Qualcomm

The legal spat between Apple and Qualcomm looks set to rival that which saw Apple and Samsung go head-to-head for so long, but the iPhone maker has come out on top in one small way after a federal judge ruled that it cannot be held liable for any patent infringements that took place before the lawsuit was filed, according to a report by Bloomberg.

This decision comes after Apple apparently requested that the court dismiss the chip maker’s attempt at claiming prior damages, with the federal judge disagreeing with Qualcomm’s claims. This is the latest move in a trial that is set to take place next month in a San Diego federal court. It’s also the second time in a matter of days where Qualcomm has not seen the result it had hoped for, with a German judge recently dismissing no fewer than four patent claims.

Qualcomm has been more than a little upset with Apple of late, saying that the company defied the orders of a German court last week. Apple had been told to remove the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 from sale, with a press release being made available that made it sound as if it would not comply. That press release was later retracted after complaints.

Apple’s Asian manufacturers, through whom Qualcomm was paid royalties for its patented technology used in iPhones and iPads, stopped paying shortly after Apple sued Qualcomm in January 2017 for improperly using its market position to demand excessive royalties. Tuesday’s ruling precludes Qualcomm from seeking damages for patent infringements for the months from when the payments were halted to when it filed its lawsuit.

There is so much going on between Apple and Qualcomm right now that it can be difficult to keep up, and that’s only going to continue, or increase, as time goes on. There’s one thing we are certain of here, though – both Apple’s and Qualcomm’s lawyers are certainly earning their money right now!

(Source: BloombergQuint)