Apple files lawsuit against Qualcomm in the U.K

The legal battle between Apple and Qualcomm is not ending anytime soon as the iPhone maker files a fresh lawsuit against the chipmaker in the U.K. 

According to Bloomberg, Apple lodged the complaint in January although court records stated the filing was made on 2 March. This is the fourth lawsuit filed by Apple against Qualcomm in the past three months; Apple sued Qualcomm for nearly US$1 billion in January this year. It followed up with another two lawsuits in China.

At the heart of the legal tussles is the claim that Qualcomm has been unfairly charging Apple for royalty fees and "technologies they have nothing to do with". The U.S Federal Trade Commission also sued Qualcomm for its anti-competitive policies. In South Korea last year, Qualcomm was fined US$853 million for unfair patent licensing which is the biggest fine ever in the country. 

The ongoing legal battles may strain relationships between Apple and Qualcomm, which might force Apple to source LTE radio modems from Intel for its future iPhones. However, Qualcomm downplayed the severity of the issue and said that it won't stop supplying modem chips to Apple. 

Source: Bloomberg via AppleInsider