This here is the latest development relating to Qualcomm's dispute with (not only, but most prominently) Apple. A few hours ago I just blogged about multiple U.S. court filings by Apple and four of its contract manufacturers and noted that there is an ever stronger alliance of companies critical of Qualcomm's business model.
A German news agency, dpa, now reports that Qualcomm has filed patent infringement lawsuits against Apple in the Munich and Mannheim Regional Courts (equivalent to U.S. district courts) over one patent in each venue. Both patents-in-suit reportedly relate to battery efficiency, so they may be from a couple of the patent families Qualcomm is asserting against Apple in the ITC.
Considering Quinn Emanuel's representation of Qualcomm in the U.S. and the choice of venues, I venture to guess that QE's German branch is involved. If so, Qualcomm has great representation over here, but whoever their counsel may be, Apple has an excellent defensive track record in Germany, where it typically works with Freshfields.
The dpa story mentions that Qualcomm believes the German legal system is favorable to patent holders' interests. Qualcomm is seeking a sales ban against all iPhones sold in Germany. The ITC complaint is limited to iPhones without a Qualcomm chip, but Apple isn't selling Qualcomm-based iPhones in Germany anyway (just devices with Intel chips).
In terms of timelines, the courts in Munich (depending on which panel of judges the case is assigned to) and Mannheim tend to be faster than the ITC--and there is no equivalent to the ITC's public-interest consideration or presidential veto.
The judges at the specialized patent infringement panels in Mannheim and Munich understand smartphone technologies very well. They are also first-rate case managers. Since German law doesn't have juries and even expert testimony can normally be avoided at trial (parties usually just file expert reports, and even if they bring experts along to the courtroom, they don't get much speaking time, if any), trials often take only an hour and a half. The judges typically walk into the courtroom with a very clear idea as to the outcome-determinative issues and ask very targeted questions. When I started watching those kinds of cases, I was a bit shocked at what kinds of trivial patents sometimes win the day in German courts (and result in injunctions, which are a legal--not equitable--remedy), but over time I thought they were increasingly balanced. While I have yet to see a patent in this industry (including Apple's patents, to be sure) that I believe justifies a 20-year monopoly, I respect other views and can separate that part from the competence and fairness I saw over and over again. Qualcomm shouldn't expect a cakewalk, much less against Apple.
[Update] On Friday, Qualcomm actually filed the following in San Diego: "Qualcomm respectfully requests that the Court enjoin Apple from pursuing its Foreign Actions and from initiating additional duplicative foreign actions against Qualcomm during the pendency of the U.S. Action." I've uploaded that PDF to Scribd. So Qualcomm doesn't want Apple to sue abroad, but views patent infringement matters differently. Today's German filings don't lend extra credibility to Qualcomm's motion for an anti-suit injunction in the U.S., even though Qualcomm will have thought how to thread the needle and distinguish its own foreign action from Apple's.
dpa just told me on Twitter that the German patents-in-suit are from the same patent families as two U.S. patents:
.@FOSSpatents #Qualcomm refers to US Patent No. 8,698,558 and US Patent No. 9,608,675 #Apple #pngWriter pic.twitter.com/wlDqJlS26v
— Christoph Dernbach (@CDernbach) July 19, 2017
[/Update]
Just like in the U.S., Qualcomm made a well-orchestrated announcement. At 5 AM in the morning by San Diego time (unless they already prepared it beforehand), dpa quoted Qualcomm's top lawyer. I haven't seen a more PR-oriented litigant in this industry. There was a lot of PR activity related to the Nokia-IPCom dispute, but that was nothing in terms of orchestration compared to what Qualcomm is doing now. For example, on the occasion of its ITC complaint, Qualcomm published a very professionally-crafted infographic...
Apple is very low-key in this regard. But as I wrote toward the end of my previous post, it appears to me that Qualcomm is placing a whole lot of emphasis on doing what it believes prevents investors from shorting the stock, and that priority may not always be the best choice with a view to litigation. Apple can and does afford the luxury of strictly focusing on a few key issues--and Apple has a broadbased alliance of companies and other stakeholders on its side.
There's so much that Apple and Qualcomm cannot agree on, and apparently "the name of the game" is one of those areas of disagreement.
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