As you might have heard, not content with just going after Apple, Qualcomm has recently turned their sights onto Apple’s manufacturing partners such as Foxconn, Compal, Wistron, and Pegatron. Now it seems that Qualcomm is pushing for a court order that would force these companies to keep paying them royalties while the lawsuit is still ongoing.
For those unfamiliar, Apple and Qualcomm do not have a direct licensing agreement. Instead Apple pays companies such as Foxconn a reimbursement for the licensing agreement that Foxconn has with Qualcomm, which is why Qualcomm is going after Apple’s suppliers since they’re the ones who are licensing from Qualcomm directly.
According to Qualcomm’s general counsel Don Rosenberg, “We are confident that our contracts will be found valid and enforceable but in the interim it is only fair and equitable that our licensees pay for the property they are using.” Prior to this, Apple had accused Qualcomm of abusing its FRAND patents and has since filed a lawsuit of their own.
This isn’t the first time that Qualcomm has landed themselves in legal trouble as the FTC is also going after the company, not to forget the various legal troubles they’ve encountered with government bodies in other parts of the world.