Last month we reported that Tim Cook would be facing deposition over Qualcomm patent royalties in June. Today, another SVP from Apple is being added to the list.
Bloomberg reports that Eddy Cue is now being deposed in the case. Apparently, Apple argued against the move, but San Diego Federal Judge Mitchell D. Dembin ultimately turned that down, favoring Qualcomm’s request to add Cue to the program.
Apple argued back in November that Cue had nothing to do with the case as he merely oversees services at the company. However, Qualcomm cites Cue as one of the lead negotiators when the original iPhone launched back in 2007.
The issue at heart is that Apple uses Qualcomm chips in its iPhones, requiring the company to pay Qualcomm royalties for using its chipset in its smartphones. However, Apple believes that Qualcomm is charging far too much for the royalties and is willing to take the company to court to lower its royalty rates.
For the last several iPhone generations, Apple has been splitting its modems between Intel and Qualcomm. Rumors have suggested that Apple may be ditching Qualcomm entirely on this year’s iPhone, solely using Intel chips.
