Apple gets hit with sanctions in Qualcomm case for withholding documents

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By now I think we all know that Apple and Qualcomm aren’t on very friendly terms. The two have had a very public wrestling match over Qualcomm’s licensing fees and business practices. Now, U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins in San Jose, California, has ordered a fine of $25,000USD a day against Apple. The fine is part of sanctions imposed on the company for withholding documents from the court in the FTC case against the chip maker.

Apple, which isn’t a party in the FTC suit, said in a filing this month that it had produced more than 2.6 million documents by the Dec. 15 deadline and any dispute Qualcomm wanted to raise was premature. The FTC suit alleges that Qualcomm unfairly cut out competitors by making Apple use only its chips in exchange for lower licensing fees.

“We have already produced millions of documents for this case and are working hard to deliver the millions more which have been requested in an unprecedented time frame,” Apple spokesman Josh Rosenstock said. “We plan to appeal this ruling.”

Apple filed its own lawsuit several days after the FTC complaint, accusing Qualcomm of monopolizing the market for chips and wireless devices.

The pile-up of cases and actions and the suspension of licensing payments by Apple has hurt Qualcomm’s stock this year. That contributed to making it a takeover target by rival Broadcom Ltd., which is pursuing a $105 billion hostile takeover.

Apple is rumored to be working on possibly making its own mobile chips for their iPhones to reduce dependency on 3rd party chip makers. In the meantime, it’s also been rumored that Apple will source chips from MediaTek and Intel for future iPhones. Whatever happens, it’s evident that Apple wants to cut ties with Qualcomm.

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[button link=”https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-22/apple-sanctioned-in-qualcomm-ftc-case-for-withholding-documents” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Bloomberg[/button]
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