US: Qualcomm accuses Apple of sharing trade secrets with Intel

Qualcomm has accused Apple of stealing trade secrets and handing them over to Intel, a filing with the Superior Court of California claims, alleging Apple wanted to use the information to improve the performance of chips provided to it via Intel.

The latest activity in the long-running legal fight between Apple and Qualcomm has the chip producer directly accusing Apple of acquiring “vast swaths” of confidential information, reports CNBC. Filed on Monday, September 24, Qualcomm is intending for the allegations to be included in an existing lawsuit against Apple, if the court allows an amendment to the suit.

The complaint claims Apple breached the “master software agreement” it signed within the last decade when it became a Qualcomm customer, reported CNBC. As part of the agreement, Apple was required to allow Qualcomm to ensure its source code and tools were being appropriately protected, but it is alleged this may not have been the case.

This new filing raises a more serious accusation of alleged misdeeds by Apple; whereas the original suit argued that Qualcomm was being prevented from auditing Apple’s use of its source code, now it is claiming that the same source code and tools were stolen for the express purpose of helping Intel, its competitor, overcome engineering flaws in its chips that led to their poor performance in iPhones.

The discovery was unearthed during its latest lawsuit, which started in November 2017, which is said to highlight Apple engineers repeatedly providing the code and other confidential information under the agreement to Intel’s counterparts. While no direct evidence is offered, there are references to communications between the two sets of engineers that suggests such sharing occurred.

Full Content: CNBC