Qualcomm and Apple Agree to Drop All Litigation

Apple Newsroom:

Qualcomm and Apple today announced an agreement to dismiss all litigation between the two companies worldwide. The settlement includes a payment from Apple to Qualcomm. The companies also have reached a six-year license agreement, effective as of April 1, 2019, including a two-year option to extend, and a multiyear chipset supply agreement.

“The settlement includes a payment from Apple to Qualcomm” is my favorite sentence so far this week.

Here’s more from The New York Times:

The provisions of the deal announced on Tuesday suggest at least a partial victory for Qualcomm’s patent-driven business model, which has also attracted harsh scrutiny from regulators like the Federal Trade Commission in a separate case awaiting a federal judge’s ruling. Qualcomm’s shares, which have been hurt by the two-year dispute with Apple, jumped 23 percent on word of the settlement.

In agreeing to settle the case, Apple tacitly acknowledged it was able to live with Qualcomm’s business model — assuming the price of Qualcomm’s royalties is more to Apple’s liking. The parties disclosed no financial details, but a slide they distributed Tuesday said the deal “reflects value and strength of Qualcomm’s intellectual property.”

★ Tuesday, 16 April 2019