A German court has thrown out a Qualcomm patent lawsuit in a reversal for the U.S. chipmaker after it won a recent court ban on the sale of some iPhones in the country.
A new report from Reuters explains that a patent lawsuit filed by Qualcomm against Apple has been thrown out by a German regional court, which said the copyright in question was not violated by the installation of its chips in some iPhones.
Qualcomm alleged that Apple violated a patent form 2009 that covered power management in transistors, claiming that iPhones up to and including the iPhone 8 infringed the patent. However, a judge in a Mannheim, Germany court dismissed the claim in a verbal ruling on Tuesday.
In a statement, Don Rosenberg, Qualcomm’s executive VP and general counsel, said: “Apple has a history of infringing our patents. While we disagree with the Mannheim court’s decision and will appeal, we will continue to enforce our [intellectual property] rights against Apple worldwide.”
“We are happy with the decision and thank the court for their time and diligence,” said an Apple spokesperson (via TechCrunch). “We regret Qualcomm’s use of the court to divert attention from their illegal behavior that is the subject of multiple lawsuits and proceedings around the world.”
Qualcomm had previously been handed over a win in a separate patent case against Apple by the Munich court. The preliminary junction from the court forced Apple to stop the import and sales of the iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus in Germany across its 15 retail outlets. These models, however, continue to remain on sale through third-party resellers and carriers in the country.
This marks the latest installment in Apple’s ongoing lawsuit against Qualcomm. In early 2017, Apple sued San Diego-based Qualcomm, claiming the company was unfairly squeezing Apple in its latest negotiations, by requiring the company buy chips, and simultaneously pay licensing fees to use the technology inside the chips.
