Qualcomm Inc on Tuesday alleged that Apple Inc stole its trade secrets and gave them to Intel Corp with the goal of improving Intel's chips so Apple could replace Qualcomm's chips, the latest move in a drawn-out legal dispute.
Qualcomm made the accusations in a motion to amend a complaint that was originally filed in November, when it alleged that Apple had broken a software license contract by sharing confidential details about Qualcomm's chips with Intel engineers. The Tuesday allegations were made in a planned legal filing seen by Reuters.
They go further than the original complaint by alleging Apple stole Qualcomm trade secrets in a "multi-year campaign of sloppy, inappropriate and deceitful conduct ... for the purpose of improving lower-quality modem chipsets, including those manufactured by Intel, a competitor of Qualcomm, to render such chipsets useable in Apple devices with the ultimate goal of diverting Qualcomm's Apple-based business to Intel."
Intel is not named as a defendant in Qualcomm's lawsuit.