Apple lawsuit seeks $1 billion from Qualcomm

Apple Inc. is suing mobile chip maker Qualcomm Inc. for $1 billion in a patent fight pitting the iPhone maker against one of its major suppliers.

The complaint filed Friday in a San Diego federal court depicts Qualcomm as a monopolist abusing its power in a key segment of the mobile chip market to extort royalties for iPhone innovations that have nothing to do with Qualcomm’s technology.

Apple says it has been cooperating with government regulators who have been investigating Qualcomm’s business practices, prompting Qualcomm to retaliate by withholding about $1 billion in scheduled payments.

Qualcomm didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. The San Diego company has said that its 3G and 4G cellular patents are essential to what makes smartphones truly mobile, with the ability to link to the Internet from almost anywhere. The royalties it has been charging for these key technologies for more than two decades are not unreasonable, the company contends.

Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple launched its legal attack three days after the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit alleging that Qualcomm has been imposing unfair licensing terms on manufacturers.

The FTC alleged that Qualcomm used its dominant market share in wireless chips to get excessive royalties on key, standard essential patents, which are supposed to be made available at reasonable rates under law.

The agency also accused Qualcomm of giving Apple rebates in exchange for being the exclusive supplier of cellular modems in iPhones from 2011 through 2015 — hurting competitors. And the FTC lawsuit came a month after a South Korean regulator, the Korea Fair Trade Commission, fined Qualcomm $865 million over patent royalties.