Apple believes that and Qualcomm may initiate infringement lawsuits again after the two patent authorizations involved expire.
Apple
Although a settlement was reached in 2019, the differences arising from patents between Apple and Qualcomm have not been completely eliminated. The U.S. Supreme Court recently rejected Apple's request to invalidate two Qualcomm patents through a hearing. These two patents played a key role in Qualcomm's 2017 attempt to ban the sale of iPhones, iPads and Apple Watch . There is currently not much explanation for why the court rejected Apple, but according to the content of the previous amicus brief of the Ministry of Justice, there is currently no evidence that these Qualcomm patents have harmed Apple's business.
The six-year licensing agreement signed by Apple and Qualcomm was mainly to resolve the core patent disputes between the two parties. The agreement also allowed a US Patent Office case involving the above two patents to continue. Before appealing to the Supreme Court, Apple's attempts to invalidate the patent at the Patent Office and the Federal Circuit failed. This time when they filed suit in the Supreme Court, the Justice Department also submitted a descriptive statement opposing the request.
According to Apple, once their licensing agreement with Qualcomm expires in 2025 or extended in 2027, the latter may use relevant patents to provoke infringement lawsuits again. Qualcomm has not yet made any comment on the matter, but according to rumors, Apple may abandon Qualcomm's products in 2023 and switch to self-developed 5G modem. If this is indeed the case, the truce between the two companies may suddenly be broken.
