Qualcomm Inc, an American multinational giant in telecommunications products and services, took some solid step on Thursday vis-à-vis enforcement of court order to ban sales of specific iPhone models in Germany. This step is highly likely to persuade Apple Inc. to pull out these iPhone models from German stores and shops, which in turn will have profound influence on the sales figures of Apple. A bond worth 1.34 billion euros ($1.52 billion) was posted as a crucial part of the legal necessities by a German court, wherein Apple was accused of infringement of the Qualcomm patents on power-saving technologies utilized in case of smartphones.
In line with this order, Apple stated that it would pull iPhone 7 and 8 models from around 15 retail establishments in Germany. However, when Qualcomm successfully posted the bond, Apple’s statements came into effect. Based on the recent move by Qualcomm, Apple denied to give out any significant and solid comment.
As per order by the court, Apple is forced to stop selling, impending offers for sale, and importation of the infringing iPhone models in Germany. The court also placed an order asking Apple to recall all the models that are affected from various third-party resellers based in Germany, as per a statement given by Qualcomm.
In one of its previous statements, Apple had stated that it would continue selling all of its iPhone models across multiple retail and carrier locations in Germany, which was more of a contradiction to interpretations of Qualcomm apropos of the order.
A German lawyer, who isn’t directly involved in the case, stated that order of the court was highly oriented toward entities of Apple Inc rather than third party stores involved. These third parties still have the liberty in terms of selling theses affected phones. “The equation of a settlement will be primarily driven by the U.S. litigation, and not the German case.” he added.
As per sources, Apple came up with solid arguments for reversal of the court’s ruling on appeal. If this becomes the case, bond of Qualcomm will be used to compensate Apple. Whether the order will turn out to be in favor of Apple or there will be a significant backlash against the acquisitions remains to be seen.