Qualcomm Files Patent Infringement Complaints Against Apple

QUALCOMM, Inc. QCOM shares briefly spiked in Thursday after-hours trading on news that the firm filed patent infringement complaints against Apple Inc. AAPL with the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Qualcomm alleged that Apple had illegally imported and sold iPhones violating at least one of six Qualcomm technology patents.

"Qualcomm's inventions are at the heart of every iPhone and extend well beyond modem technologies or cellular standards," Don Rosenberg, executive vice president and general counsel of Qualcomm, said in a press release. "The patents we are asserting represent six important technologies, out of a portfolio of thousands, and each is vital to iPhone functions. Apple continues to use Qualcomm's technology while refusing to pay for it."

The supplier urges the imposition of a Limited Exclusion Order to ban future imports of the offending products and a Cease and Desist Order to prohibit continued sales of already imported phones.

Qualcomm anticipates an ITC investigation to launch in August.

In addition to the ITC complaint, Qualcomm filed another with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California demanding damages and injunctive relief.

Apple and Qualcomm have been quarreling for years over licensing dispute, and the battle escalated in April when Apple announced it would withhold royalty payments pending settlement.