Apple announced that it will start selling again in Germany a number of iPhone 7 and 8 models that were subject to a court-ordered sales ban in its licensing dispute with Qualcomm. The company said it will offer the smartphones with processors from Qualcomm, rather than Intel, in order to adhere with the court ruling, DPA news agency reports.
Apple said this was the only way to bring the phones back in sale. However, the company pledged to continue its battle against Qualcomm, which it has accused of excessive licensing fees and unfair competition. Apple has already filed an appeal against the sales ban on its previous models.
Qualcomm won in December a court ruling in Germany against Apple after accusing the iPhone maker of patent infringement. The court granted Qualcomm's request for an injunction banning the sale of certain iPhone models in Germany, and Qualcomm has actively pursued enforcement of the ban. Due to the court decision Apple was forced to withdraw the infringing iPhone models from its stores in Germany.
The German case is one of several pending between the companies, after Apple decided in 2017 to stop paying licence fees to Qualcomm and switch to Intel processors. The company employed a workaround in China as well when Qualcomm secured a sales ban there against certain iPhone models.
