I don't know how Apple has survived paying these exorbitant rates. To ask a struggling company such as Apple to bear such a burden -- maybe if Qualcomm's cruel yoke were lifted Apple could make a go in this business. /s 
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Qualcomm to Pursue iPhone Import Ban in United States in Ongoing Apple Feud
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Doesn't matter.
Even if Qualcom were to be prevailant, the US government would simply overturn this import-ban too.
Even if Qualcom were to be prevailant, the US government would simply overturn this import-ban too.
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This was a predictable move from Qualcomm, it's the best leverage they have over Apple. But surely Apple must have known this would happen, and felt extremely confident they could block it or get around it, given that iPhone sales account for the majority of Apple's revenue.
Nice catch. I had hoped they were putting it a separate trust, but could find nothing about it. It's clearly in the Q2 report. I also agree Qualcomm will not win any injunction. This will end eventually with Apple using all Intel Modems in time. IMO, you will also see Apple look to Intel for ARM Fabrication in the coming years to offset TSMC.
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Can't have it both ways. When Apple sued Samsung for rounded corners, Apple got a percentage of the entire cost of Samsung's phones sold. Apple didnt just ask for the cost of the plastic phone shell.
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This news story is saying Apple has stopped payments. That sounds like free to me.
Cook is notorious for low balling Western companies to the point of bankruptcy so he can transfer the intellectual property offshore to produce for less. Hope Qualcomm is smarter than to become another one of Cook's victims.
No, this is totally up to POTUS and as I've said earlier, Trump is no Obama (and Qualcomm is no Samsung). To make matters worse for Apple, while Apple has many allies in high places, Qualcomm is an American company with considerable political/lobbying power in the US.
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Would be quite the bargaining chip for Trump to get Apple to repatriate their hordes of cash though. "I'll lift this ban if you repatriate at a much higher tax rate and it will still cost less than it will cost you to have iPhones banned in the US."
Qualcomm's entire market capitalization is less than a quarter of the cash Apple has on hand. Thats kinda like getting in a fender-bender accident with a guy who has more cash in his wallet than your entire net worth. While I don't necessarily agree with the concept, when you "follow the money" you can generally predict the outcome of almost any event.
It's not free, it's in the court system. Apple is being sued, doesn't sound like free to me. They still owe money (maybe), to be decided to by the courts. No different than not paying a contractor for shoddy work. You didn't get the work free, your payment to the contractor will be determined by what happens in the suit or the lien on your house.
It's no different than Apple claiming 20% of an app purchase whether it cost $.99 or $9.99.
Just a note that 93% of Apple's cash is held by its shell companies outside the U.S.
Only about $16 billion is kept in the U.S. for operating expenses.
In fact, in the U.S., Apple is close to $100 billion in DEBT, since it's cheaper for them to borrow money than to pay taxes to repatriate their offshore cash.
Good question. The ITC can only ban foreign imports. Its purpose is to protect US companies from imports which infringe US patents.
So if Apple made and sold a subset of iPhones in the US (and not in a foreign exclusion zone) the ITC would have no jurisdiction over them.
However, since Apple buys chips outside the US to avoid US taxes, the ITC can ban their import.
The ITC has also previously ruled that their foreign purchase means Apple does not get the benefit of US common law patent exhaustion protection:
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If the royalties weren't reasonable for the quality of technology being licensed, the hundreds of licensed companies would've come up with alternative comm methods, instead of paying Qualcomm for decades.
Apple simply thinks that anything more than $1 per device for anyone else's patents, is unfair to Apple. They think they deserve special treatment, which is unfair to all the other licencees who have paid a larger fee for years.
Qualcomm is no angel, but...
It is interesting to read all of Apple's contract complaints, especially if you know anything about the terms that Apple itself usually imposes on its suppliers. It's a case of Apple being faced with needing to "put on its big boy pants", as they put it to GTAT not long ago.
Qualcomm, for instance, refused to bow to Apple's usual contract requirements for huge penalties if enough chips couldn't be supplied in time, or to exclusivity. Some will remember how such clauses helped bring GTAT down.
It should be based on a percentage cost of the chip surely?
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I think you're missing the point, Apple does NOT have any agreement with them at all. They won't make a licensing deal with apple at all and won't even sit down at a table. If you have a patent you can't just declare a price it has to be fair across all phone makers and currently it's far from that. I hate apple as much as the next guy for dodgy business practices but this is where FRAND is indeed a necessity.
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I think you're missing the point, Apple does NOT have any agreement with them at all. They won't make a licensing deal with apple at all and won't even sit down at a table. If you have a patent you can't just declare a price it has to be fair across all phone makers and currently it's far from that. I hate apple as much as the next guy for dodgy business practices but this is where FRAND is indeed a necessity.
You're making a poor comparison. Samsung was sued because it copied Apple's design in an effort to sell its own product.
There was no licensing agreement for a technology, which is what the Qualcomm suit is about. Qualcomm is effectively trying to re-negotiate terms of an agreement because they know Apple is making and has tons of cash. And they also realize that they are going to lose a piece of business that has been generating revenue for them for years, so they're trying to delay the inevitable, in the hopes that the lawsuit itself will keep investors from dumping them.