Apple takes patent battle with Qualcomm to China

From InfoWorld: Apple has filed two new lawsuits against Qualcomm, this time in China, that allege the mobile chip maker abused its market dominance and patents to charge excessively high licensing fees.

Apple is seeking 1 billion yuan ($145 million) in damages from Qualcomm, according to Beijing’s intellectual property court, which announced Wednesday it would hear the lawsuits.

The legal action centers on Qualcomm’s standards-essential patents for its cellular technology. Allegedly, the company refused to negotiate a fair licensing fee for the patents and even declined to license some of them to Apple.

This "restricted" the iPhone maker from offering certain products or services, one of the lawsuits claim, according to the Beijing court.

Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. But last week, it filed a separate $1 billion lawsuit against Qualcomm in the U.S., which also charges the chipmaker with demanding "exorbitant" licensing fees for its cellular technology.

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