Apple finally has been able to lift a ban imposed on iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 devices in Germany. These devices were banned after a verdict came in December due to the violation of Qualcomm patents. Apple and Qualcomm’s tug of war is not new, the battle of infringement of patents has been dragged and settled in both parties’ favor several times. The latest was when Apple was forced to stop selling specific models of iPhone in Germany.
How The Ban Was Lifted?
iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 will be available for sale in Germany, however, there is a twist to the story. Now, these models will come with Qualcomm chips. On 14th February, Apple announced that the company will now start the sales of its older iPhone models at Apple’s German stores. From now on, Apple will not use Intel chips in older devices to obey the German court decision.
The latest iPhone XS models and iPhone XR, were not the part of the German ban, will continue to come with Intel chips.
Apple representative stated,
However, Qualcomm has not responded till.
What About Second Lawsuit From January?
Qualcomm got a huge victory when a patent violation case Qualcomm’s technology for power savings in a smartphone was settled in chip manufacturer’s favor in December. As a result of that, Apple’s iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 were immediately banned in Germany.
The second lawsuit from January related to the smartphone voltage was dismissed and labelled as a ‘nuisance’ by a patent expert.
The regional court in the city of Mannheim suspended the infringement case filed by Qualcomm declaring it baseless and stated that the concerned patent was not infringed by the installation of its chips in Apple’s iPhones.
The patent expert said,
As per a report, Apple stated,
Though Intel is not bound to the lawsuit directly, Steven Rodger, General Counsel of Intel clarified and said,
