Apple Inc filed petitions challenging four Qualcomm Inc patents June 21, dragging the US Patent and Trademark Office into a long-running licensing dispute that already spans the globe.
The two are locked in a bitter fight over the amount of royalties Apple’s suppliers should pay to use Qualcomm’s technology on telecommunications. Billions of dollars are at stake. A hearing in one case is under way at the US International Trade Commission in Washington, and trials are scheduled for later this year in China and Germany.