January 2019. In December 2018, the District Court in Munich banned Apple from selling its iPhone models 7, 8 and X in Germany. The computer giant has also been ordered to conduct a product recall on all these phones after the Court ruled the technology used in the iPhone infringed various patents held by Qualcomm.

Patent

The dispute centres on a patent for the “low-voltage power efficient envelope tracker”, a technology used by mobile phones to save on battery life when sending and receiving cellular phone signals.

Left to right: the Iphone 7, 8 and X, sales of which are now banned in Germany

Bond

In order for the ruling to take effect straightaway, Qualcomm was required to post a €1.34 billion bond as security.

Mud-wrestling

Qualcomm now appears to have paid out this immense sum. In the meantime, Apple has announced it will be lodging an appeal against the Court’s decision. Incidentally, Germany isn’t the only country where the two tech-giants are slugging it out. They’re also mud-wrestling in China and the US.