According to a US judge, Qualcomm owes Apple a $ 1 billion payment remittance

(Reuters) – A US federal judge made a preliminary ruling that Qualcomm Inc. owed Apple Inc. nearly $ 1 billion in patent rebate payments, though this decision is unlikely to give Qualcomm the benefit of paying $ 25 billion in rebate payments. write a check to Apple because of other developments in the dispute.

Judge Gonzalo Curiel of the US District Court Southern California said Thursday that Qualcomm, the world's largest supplier of mobile phone chips, was required to pay close to $ 1 billion in rebates to Apple, which was using for years the modem chips from Qualcomm. connect iPhones to wireless data networks.

The payments were part of a commercial cooperation agreement between the two companies among the particular patent licensing practices of the consumer electronics industry.

Typically, the subcontractor factories that built the Apple iPhones would pay Qualcomm billions of dollars a year for using Qualcomm's patented iPhones technology, which Apple would pay back to the subcontractors. In addition, Qualcomm and Apple have entered into a cooperation agreement whereby Qualcomm would pay Apple a rebate on iPhone patent payments if Apple agreed not to sue the court or the regulators.

In a lawsuit filed two years ago, Apple sued Qualcomm alleging that the chip vendor had broken the cooperation agreement by not paying nearly a billion dollars in cuts to patent fees.

Qualcomm in turn asserted that he had stopped paying rebates because Apple had broken the deal by urging other smartphone makers to complain to regulators and making "false" statements and misleading "to the Korean Fair Trade Commission, which was investigating Qualcomm about antitrust allegations. Apple responded that it was responding legally to regulators as part of an ongoing investigation.

Judge Curiel sided with Apple, saying Qualcomm owed the missed payments.

"Qualcomm's illegal business practices are hurting Apple and the entire industry," Apple said in a statement.

Don Rosenberg, Executive Vice President and Senior Legal Advisor of Qualcomm, told Reuters in a statement: "Although the Court does not consider today Apple's behavior as a violation of the promises made by Apple to Qualcomm in the 2013 cooperation and patent agreement, the role played by Apple in these events is a welcome development. "

The decision will only become final after the current trial, which will begin next month. And it is unlikely that Qualcomm will make a new payment to Apple.

Apple's outsourcing factories, which under normal circumstances would pay Qualcomm the patent royalties owed on iPhones, have already withheld payments of nearly $ 1 billion from Qualcomm. Rosenberg of Qualcomm stated that the iPhone payment deductions had already been recorded in Qualcomm's existing financial statements.

"Apple has already cleared the payment in question under the agreement with the royalties due to Qualcomm," said Rosenberg of Qualcomm to Reuters.