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CTOnews.com, July 11 (Xinhua)-- Apple's lawyers say Qualcomm is harassing Apple executives and calling them as witnesses in an unrelated lawsuit.

Chip maker Qualcomm has had a long patent dispute with Apple, and the two companies reached a settlement in April 2023, but Qualcomm still seems hostile to Apple. Recently, Qualcomm was sued by investors, accusing it of deceiving investors by artificially raising its share price. In the lawsuit, which has nothing to do with Apple, Qualcomm asked two Apple executives to testify in court, causing resentment from Apple.

Jeffrey Williams, Apple's chief operating officer, and Bruce Watrous, chief legal officer, applied to a US judge on Friday to revoke subpoenas against Qualcomm and plaintiff investors, Reuters reported. They think that the lawsuit has nothing to do with them and there is no need to appear in court. Apple also said its communication with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had nothing to do with securities lawsuits between Qualcomm and its shareholders over Qualcomm's alleged misstatements.

CTOnews.com noted that the patent dispute between Apple and Qualcomm began in 2017, when Apple accused Qualcomm of charging double fees for its modem chips, both for the chip itself and for licenses to use patented technology. This triggered a series of legal disputes, with both sides vowing to fight to the end. In April 2023, the two companies reached an unexpected settlement on the first day of the trial. The two sides did not disclose the details of the settlement, but it is widely believed that Apple took the initiative to compromise because Intel withdrew from the 5G smartphone modem market and Apple had to re-cooperate with Qualcomm.

Now, in the face of investor lawsuits, Qualcomm wants to use the testimony of Apple executives to prove that it did not violate securities regulations. But Apple's lawyers thought it was retaliatory harassment by Qualcomm and asked the court to reject Qualcomm's request.

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