A German court has rejected four Qualcomm patent claims against Apple. The court will reach a decision on four other patents in the near future.
The regional court in the city of Munich Thursday rejected Qualcomm’s claims that Apple had infringed on its patents related to some search capabilities on the iPhone. The court has hasn’t yet reached a decision on four further search-related patent disputes.
Don Rosenberg, executive vice president and general counsel for Qualcomm, said the company disagrees with the court’s ruling on Thursday. Apple said in a statement, “We thank the court for their time and diligence in this case.”
The patents that were rejected were not related to any iPhone hardware, which is the main source of contention between the two companies. Instead they related to unrelated software techniques for searches. Qualcomm used similar techniques in China, where it also cited unrelated patents. Qualcomm seems to be taking a scattershot approach to the legal battle, looking for any way to put legal pressure on Apple.
While such claims did succeed in China, technically resulting on a ban on the import and sale of nearly all iPhone models in the country. However, Apple soon issued a software update in an effort to work around the patent infringement claim.