Qualcomm wants to ban iPhone sales in China

In an effort to continue to charge Apple for the use of its patents in mainland China, Qualcomm has filed lawsuits against the company with the end goal of stopping the production and sale of iPhones in China.

The suits were filed by the mobile chip manufacturer in an intellectual property court in Beijing. Qualcomm claims that Apple has violated its patents and the company is seeking injunctive relief over the misuse of its IP.

Following the news of the lawsuits, Apple's shares were slightly up while Qualcomm's were slightly down.

For its part, Apple argued that many of the patents involved in the cases were relatively new and they had not been previously discussed with Qualcomm, saying:

"In many years of ongoing negotiations with Qualcomm, these patents have never been discussed and in fact were only granted in the last few months."

Apple is currently involved in an ongoing legal battle against the company to end the practice of having to pay a small percentage of the total price of each iPhone and iPad sold to Qualcomm over the use of its patents.

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