Further heating up the legal battle, Qualcomm claims that Apple has stolen its wireless technology and given it to Intel to enhance modem speeds.
The claim is the latest development in the legal battle that started around two years ago when Apple claimed that Qualcomm has been wrongly using its position as a dominant supplier of smartphone modems to demand high fees.
But now Qualcomm is trying to turn the suit towards Apple. Qualcomm also claims to have good evidence to support the allegation. The company claims to have documents showing that Apple and Intel engineers shared Qualcomm’s source code and other tools.
‘On information and belief, Apple developed and carried out an intricate plan, beginning at least several years ago and continuing through the present, to steal vast swaths of Qualcomm’s confidential information and trade secrets and to use the information and technology to improve the performance of non-Qualcomm chipset solutions and, in conjunction, the performance of iPhones based on such non-Qualcomm chipset solutions,’ said Qualcomm.
The lawsuit further states that Intel’s engineers have complained to Apple that they were unable to open secret Qualcomm files they had been sent. Apple’s engineers then created new, viewable files for them using Qualcomm’s own tools.
According to Qualcomm, Apple started this practice ‘at least several years ago’, and the chip maker strongly believes that Apple has successfully stolen its technology and wrongly used it to improve Intel’s modem speeds.
Apple had access to secret Qualcomm code because of a deal the two companies signed in 2009. According to the filing, Apple wanted to access Qualcomm code in order to integrate it more deeply into the iPhone.
The company agreed, but with some conditions, according to which, the code will only be used in products with Qualcomm chips and couldn’t be shared with third parties. Also, it would be robustly protected in the same manner as Apple’s own code.
