Qualcomm Lawsuit Against Apple Wants iPhone Imports And Sales To Be Halted

Hardware manufacturer Qualcomm has asked U.S. regulators to temporarily ban iPhone imports over a patent dispute, according to a new lawsuit.

In a statement, Qualcomm alleges that Apple has violated six patents from the company within the iPhone. As part of its suit, Qualcomm wants trade officials to bar iPhones from being imported into the U.S. and halt the sale of current iPhones.

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"Qualcomm's inventions are at the heart of every iPhone and extend well beyond modem technologies or cellular standards," Don Rosenberg, executive vice president and general counsel of Qualcomm, said in a release. "The patents we are asserting represent six important technologies, out of a portfolio of thousands, and each is vital to iPhone functions. Apple continues to use Qualcomm's technology while refusing to pay for it. These lawsuits seek to stop Apple's infringement of six of our patented technologies."

According to Qualcomm, the patents primarily focus on ways to optimize smartphone performance and battery life. The company also wants to have the suit be a way to determine iPhone models that use cellular baseband processors that aren’t made by Qualcomm or its affiliates.

The move from Qualcomm confirms speculation about the company’s strategy from earlier this year. It’s also the latest legal tussle between the two companies, who have butted heads frequently in court over the past year.

In January, the Federal Trade Commission filed a suit against Qualcomm and blasted its semiconductor agreements among smartphone manufacturers as anticompetitive. Qualcomm provides components to companies including Apple and Samsung.

Following the ruling, Apple filed a separate $1 billion suit of its own against Qualcomm on similar anticompetitive grounds. Qualcomm then filed its own countersuit against Apple, but in April, Apple moved to cut off licensing payments to Qualcomm and its partners. In a filing, Apple argued that Qualcomm was “levying its own tax” on the company’s products.

Read: Apple Ceases Royalty Payments Amid Lawsuits, Qualcomm Stock Price Plummets

There’s no indication yet about how effective Qualcomm’s gambit might be — the company filed a secondary complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California — but a potential import ban would be a major hurdle for Apple. The company’s traditional fall smartphone release window is coming up and Apple is rumored to be releasing the iPhone 8, iPhone 7S and iPhone 7S Plus within this period.

The extended legal tussle with Apple has also left Qualcomm on uncertain financial footing. Without Apple’s licensing fees, Qualcomm previously had to cut its quarterly revenue projections by $500 million, Bloomberg reported. Investors have also been similarly dismal about the company’s prospects, with its stock dropping around 17 percent since the start of the year.