Apple sanctioned in Qualcomm court case for withholding documents

In an interesting twist, Apple has been sanctioned in its battle against Qualcomm for supposedly withholding relevant documentation. The lawsuit against Qualcomm (by the FTC) alleges that Apple was forced to use Qualcomm modem chips exclusively.

Judge Nathaniel Cousins of San Jose, California has fined Apple $25,000 per day that they failed to produce the requested evidence. The deadline to submit the evidence is the 29th, and if they do not comply they could face even larger fines. In a filing, Apple claims to have turned over 2.5 million documents as evidence.

Why Apple would withhold this information is unclear, especially when it would be beneficial for them to have the FTC win the case against Qualcomm. Apple isn’t specifically involved in this case, however, they are currently involved in a battle regarding CPU patents. Qualcomm has been under extreme pressure for its supposedly unfair business practices as of late. Apple did not respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment.

With all the mounting pressure, Qualcomm is certainly looking forward to developments that could work in their favor. Not only is there legal pressure, but Apple has also temporarily stopped licensing fees to Qualcomm during the ongoing legal issues. In addition to the attempted Broadcom takeover, Qualcomm has been a hot topic as of late.

Only time will tell how things work out for the silicon giant, and as always we’ll keep you posted on new developments. What do you think?