From CNET: Intel has jumped into the fray surrounding the Apple-Qualcomm patent spat by accusing the world's biggest maker of mobile phone chips of trying to use the courts to snuff out competition.
The chip giant made the allegation late Thursday in a public statement (PDF) to US International Trade Commission. The commission had requested the statement as part of its investigation into Qualcomm's accusation that Apple's iPhones of infringe six of Qualcomm's mobile patents.
Specifically, Intel said, the case is about quashing competition from Intel, which described itself as "Qualcomm's only remaining competitor" in the market for chips for cellular phones.
"Qualcomm did not initiate this investigation to stop the alleged infringement of its patent rights; rather, its complaint is a transparent effort to stave off lawful competition from Qualcomm's only remaining rival," Intel said in its statement. "This twisted use of the Commission's process is just the latest in a long line of anticompetitive strategies that Qualcomm has used to quash incipient and potential competitors and avoid competition on the merits."
Intel's statement is the latest salvo in Qualcomm's battle with Apple. The two companies have been fighting over patents since January, when Apple filed suit against Qualcomm in the US and said the wireless chipmaker didn't give fair licensing terms for its technology. It wants to pay a lower amount for using Qualcomm technology in its devices.
Qualcomm, the world's biggest provider of mobile chips, maintains that no modern handset -- including the iPhone -- would have been possible "without relying upon Qualcomm's fundamental cellular technologies." The company derives a significant portion of its revenue from licensing that technology to hundreds of handset manufacturers and others.
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