The Patent War Has Changed Again, and the Foundry Counterclaims Against Qualcomm

It is reported that while the patent war between Qualcomm and apple is still raging, Hon Hai, Heshuo, Compal and Wistron four apple foundries were also notified to court on May 17 because the foundries refused to pay a $1 billion patent license fee to Qualcomm for their Apple products. Now, as the real victim, Apple has come forward to support its partners and stressed that it will stand on the same front with its partners to assist in legal proceedings and defend their rights and interests.

Noreen Krall, vice president and chief litigation counsel of apple, said that Qualcomm's retaliation was a "shortcut" and Apple would support Taiwan partners to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests by legal means. Noreen Krall pointed out that Taiwan is an important market for apple and has many years of cooperative relations. Many key parts manufacturers are headquartered in Taiwan. Qualcomm's use of retaliation to sue the contractor is completely unnecessary, which is unfair to the partners. Noreen Krall added that in response to Qualcomm's lawsuit against Apple's foundry, Apple had informed its partners that it would stand on the same front with its partners. Apple has allocated a "bank deposit", which can be paid to Qualcomm once the court decides that the OEM needs to pay relevant fees.

Compal and Wistron declined to comment on the patent lawsuit between apple and Qualcomm. Hon Hai said it was aware of the lawsuit between the two companies, but had not received the official legal documents related to the case and could not comment further. Tong Zixian, chairman of Heshuo, pointed out that Gao announced that Heshuo was just "fighting cattle across the mountain". There was no need to worry, but he still hoped that the lawsuit between Qualcomm and Apple would end as soon as possible.