Qualcomm has scored a victory in its legal battle with Apple.
Qualcomm announced today that it's won a ban on select iPhone models in China. The Fuzhou Intermediate People’s Court in China has granted two preliminary junctions against four Chinese subsidiaries of Apple, blocking the sale of the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X in China.
The court ruled that two Qualcomm patents had been infringed. Qualcomm says that additional actions seeking similar relief for infringement of other patents are pending in China and other parts of the world.
“We deeply value our relationships with customers, rarely resorting to the courts for assistance, but we also have an abiding belief in the need to protect intellectual property rights,” said Don Rosenberg, Qualcomm's executive vice president and general counsel. “Apple continues to benefit from our intellectual property while refusing to compensate us. These Court orders are further confirmation of the strength of Qualcomm’s vast patent portfolio.”
Qualcomm and Apple have been engaged in a legal battle for nearly two years. Apple originally sued Qualcomm for $1 billion, claiming that Qualcomm used its position as a maker of important cellphone chips to ask for "onerous, unreasonable, and costly" patent licensing terms. Qualcomm then said it would work to get iPhones banned in the U.S. Then in 2018, Qualcomm said Apple would not be using its chips in 2018 iPhones, sticking exclusively with Intel instead, and then later Qualcomm claimed Apple stole its trade secrets and gave them to Intel.
UPDATE: Apple has responded to this news, telling CNBC that it plans to appeal the sales ban on select iPhone models in China. The company's full statement:
"Qualcomm's effort to ban our products is another desperate move by a company whose illegal practices are under investigation by regulators around the world. All iPhone models remain available for our customers in China. Qualcomm is asserting three patents they had never raised before, including one which has already been invalidated. We will pursue all our legal options through the courts."