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(Yicai Global) Dec. 26 — If Apple doesn't comply with a court-ordered sales ban, Qualcomm is entitled to apply for fines, detention and restrictions on leaving the country against the legal representatives of Apple's four companies in China. It can also seek to record such information in the credit reference system, Jiang Hongyi, Qualcomm China's patent lawsuit attorney, told the Beijing Youth Daily.
Qualcomm has applied for a compulsory execution order with the Fuzhou Intermediate People's Court in southeast China's Fujian province and will keep track of the follow-up. Apple's goodwill will be damaged if the multinational firm is severely punished by the court for resisting enforcement of the ban, the Beijing Youth Daily reported today, quoting Jiang.
Apple tried to get around Qualcomm's patents by updating iPhone's operating system recently. After Apple unveiled the update, Qualcomm, accompanied by notaries, bought the banned iPhone models sold at Apple stores in Beijing and found that the operating system being used was still the old version. So effectively, Apple's update has nothing to do with the execution of the court ban, Jiang insisted, adding that the ban applies to seven iPhone models regardless of the iOS operating system version.
The ban issued by the court should stay effective until the second instance judgment, Jiang noted. Recently, Qualcomm asked Chinese courts to ban the latest iPhone XS, XS Max and XR in China, and all of Apple's iPhone models will be banned if the court approves, he added.
The conflict between the two American industry titans began in January last year. Apple sued Qualcomm in California, United States, claiming it was monopolizing the wireless chip market and filed a lawsuit with the Beijing Intellectual Property Court in China. Soon afterwards, Apple stopped paying Qualcomm for the patents.
On Dec. 10, the Fuzhou Intermediate People's Court issued a sales ban, demanding Apple immediately stop importing, selling and offering to sell unauthorized products in China which infringed Qualcomm's two patents. The banned products include all phones from iPhone 6S to iPhone X. Since the ban was issued, Apple has been selling the banned products on China's e-commerce platforms such as Tmall, JD.com and Suning.com and its offline stores.