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By Malcolm Owen
Tuesday, September 25, 2018 at 7:00 am Pacific Time
Qualcomm accused Apple of stealing trade secrets and handing them over to Intel, a lawsuit filed in the California Superior Court alleging that Apple wanted to use that information to improve the performance of the chips provided through Intel.
The latest activity in the long-standing legal battle between Apple and Qualcomm is prompting the chip maker to directly accuse Apple of acquiring "vast amounts" of confidential information, reports CNBC. Ranked on Monday, Qualcomm intends to include the allegations in an ongoing lawsuit against Apple, if the court authorizes a trial amendment.
The complaint alleges that Apple has violated the "Master Software Agreement" signed during the last decade when it became a Qualcomm customer. As part of the agreement, Apple was to allow Qualcomm to ensure that its source code and tools were properly protected, but this may not have been the case.
While previously, Qualcomm claimed to be precluded from auditing Apple's use of the source code produced by Qualcomm, it is now alleged that Apple uses the same code and tools with Intel to correct defects in engineering of its chips.
The discovery was unearthed during its latest lawsuit, which began in November 2017, and which would highlight Apple's engineers repeatedly providing code and other confidential information as part of the process. 39; agreement. Although no direct evidence is offered, there are references to communications between the two groups of engineers that suggest such sharing.
"The illegal use of Qualcomm's valuable trade secrets to help a competitor catch up with us is harsh and should not be allowed to continue," said Qualcomm's general counsel Donald Rosenberg. According to Rosenberg, the case can be self-sustaining and would have been filed regardless of the current status of the dispute.
Apple has not yet responded to the allegations.
Qualcomm hopes the new charges will be included in the trial, which should be brought to court in April 2019.
Qualcomm and Apple have gone to court for several years, mainly around patent infringement claims, as with the US International Trade Commission's complaint that recently denied an iPhone import ban.
Apple also accused Qualcomm of abusing its "monopoly power" over the wireless modems sector to demand excessive royalties, including withholding nearly $ 1 billion in rebates.
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