Qualcomm owes $ 1 billion to Apple, the judge rules – but it's not over

While the two-year legal battle between Apple and Qualcomm is far from over, we are just beginning to find a solution.

Thursday, Judge Gonzalo Curiel of Southern District of California made a preliminary ruling in favor of Apple, saying that Qualcomm was responsible for $ 1 billion.

The legal battle of the two tech giants goes back to 2017, when Apple sued Qualcomm claiming that the chip and modems maker had broken a cooperation deal when Qualcomm had refused to pay Apple's patent fee reductions. In his ruling on Thursday, Judge Curiel accepted Apple's claim, which resulted in a preliminary judgment of $ 1 billion.

However, it is somewhat doubtful that Qualcomm will have to pay all this money, because in a lawsuit against Apple, Qualcomm claims to have patent rights on iPhones sold with Qualcomm technology.

This is where things get complicated: as Foxconn, not Apple, is responsible for editing iPhones, Qualcomm's patent licenses work in such a way that Qualcomm charges Foxconn royalties, which are then repaid by Apple. Then, because of a separate contract, Qualcomm would reimburse Apple for a percentage of those license fees in the form of patent royalty rebates, but only if Apple agreed not to sue Qualcomm in court.

But then it becomes even more messy. Under the legal legitimacy of Apple, Apple has asked its subcontractors (Foxconn, for example) to suspend payments of patent royalties to Qualcomm, a figure that, according to the latter, has already risen to about $ 1 billion. This means that despite Apple's recent ruling at the preliminary hearing, if Apple were forced to pay the original royalties for the use of Qualcomm chips, it would essentially result in a breakeven.

Understood, yes? No? Well, that's fine. You have plenty of time to understand everything: none of these decisions are final before the start of the trial next month.

[CNBC]