Qualcomm filed a motion on Friday requesting German courts to impose fines on Apple because the company did not comply with the ban on selling iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 in Germany last December. Qualcomm said that Apple failed to properly recall the banned iPhone from third-party vendors and continued to sell in some Apple stores in early January. Qualcomm issued 1.34 billion euros of guaranteed bonds in early January to enforce the ban, and then Apple stopped selling iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus in Germany.
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Qualcomm general counsel Don Rosenberg said that Apple “deliberately” ignored the court’s orders and continued to sell banned iPhones in some stores. The company apparently did not consider itself “subject to the ban.” In a statement to Bloomberg, he wrote: “There must be a huge fine to curb this behavior.”
To prove that Apple did not comply with the court’s ban, Qualcomm mentioned a news that Apple had been forced to withdraw in December last year. Apple said in the press release that although iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 will not be available for purchase at their retail stores, operators and third-party retailers will provide these devices. Since January 2017, Qualcomm and Apple have been involved in an increasingly tense legal battle. So far, Qualcomm has won sales bans on some older iPhones in China and Germany. However, it is clear that Qualcomm is not satisfied with this. It is reported that the company hopes to include the latest iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR in the ban.
