Qualcomm just has come out on Tuesday with explosive allegations against Apple, accusing the iPhone maker of stealing a plethora of trade secrets and confidential company information while sharing it to Intel for the purported purpose of helping the rival tech firm solve performance problems, the court filing from the aforementioned chip producer indicated.
According to the website Apple Insider, the legal battle between Apple and Qualcomm which has already been going on for so long has once again seen new developments. This time around, the Snapdragon chipset maker is accusing the Cupertino-based tech giant with the violation of the master software license and services agreement.
This legal contract that is mandatory between two parties, the licensor, and the licensee, grants the latter the right to reproduce and sell goods owned by the former. In Qualcomm's case, the company required Apple to allow the chipset producer to make routine check-ups which it needed to ensure the security and protection of its source code and tools.
As stated in the court filing made in the Superior Court in San Diego on Monday, Qualcomm said that Apple breached the contract which it signed earlier when the fruit company was still the former's client.
The San Diego, California-headquartered processor maker hoped that the court would be able to amend the existing lawsuit it filed against Apple with these recent allegations.
In an interview with CNBC, Qualcomm's legal counsel Donald Rosenberg said that this recent case does stand on its own and that it could have been filed separately along with the on-going dispute.
Qualcomm earlier sued the Tim Cook-headed tech firm in November of last year for suspicions that the smartphone maker has been using the complainant's technology wrongly. Meanwhile, Apple sued Qualcomm for patent infringement and unpaid royalties amounting to USD$1 billion.
In a statement, Rosenberg said that Apple's recent act of sharing valuable trade secrets with Intel for the purpose of helping the rival chip firm catch up with the recent tech trend is a blatant unlawful act. The counsel reiterated that this could endanger Qualcomm in many ways and that this should be stopped.
The report from Mac Rumors cited an excerpt of Qualcomm's latest complaint revealing that Apple has actually been planning all along to fully eradicate Qualcomm's Apple-based business.
The lawsuit is scheduled to get into the proceeding in April next year. However, Qualcomm's proposed amendment might push back the trial at a much later date.
