Qualcomm has officially enforced a German court order ban , which effectively prohibits Apple from selling certain iPhone models in the European countries. Specifically, the ban prohibits the sales of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 from being sold due to a patent infringement on power-saving technology.
As a recap, Qualcomm won a legal battle against the company from Cupertino in Germany a couple of weeks ago. The former won the court case, and the German court ordered a ban on the sale of iPhones with chips provided by Qorno Inc., one of Apple’s many suppliers.
In order to enforce the court order, Qualcomm had to post bonds to the value of 1.34 billion Euros (~RM6.32 billion). Apple has in turn complied with the ban, pulling iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 models from all of its 15 retail stores in the country. The ban also encompasses third-party retailers selling the aforementioned iPhone models, meaning that Apple has no choice but to recall them too.
It goes without saying that this isn’t the first Qualcomm and Apple have butted heads over such matters. Further, this also isn’t the first time Qualcomm has won a legal case against Apple. Prior to this, the semiconductor maker was granted preliminary injunctions regarding a patent against Apple for a several iPhone models. This included the iPhone 6, iPhone 6S Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and the iPhone X.
Apple said that it was appealing the ban.
(Source: Reuters)
