After more than two years, technology giants Apple and Qualcomm have ended their patent dispute. The agreement between the two companies came as a surprise, the exact terms have not yet been announced.
Controversy over rights and money
In the dispute both companies had raised serious charges against each other. Apple accused the chip manufacturer Qualcomm to demand too high a license for its patents and thereby to impede the free competition. In return, Qualcomm mandated Apple to use Qualcomm technologies in its devices without the need for patent licenses.
And another point was Apple a thorn in the eye: Qualcomm demanded in return for its licenses a share of the selling price of Apple devices. Thus, the group profits from price increases, even if these went back to pure inventions of the Apple Group, criticized Apple. Qualcomm argued that due to its own broad portfolio of patents covering many different technologies, it was justified to use the price of the Apple devices to calculate the license cost.
Patentdeal initially designed for six years
Since 2017, Apple had stopped its payments to Qualcomm. The chip manufacturer estimated the resulting losses at around seven billion euros, including interest.
But now rest should come in the back and forth to the patent licenses. Apple wants to compensate Qualcomm, but a concrete sum has not yet been made public. The agreement will be valid for six years, with the option of a two-year extension. All complaints raised in the dispute should be dropped.
