Apple v. Qualcomm (2017–2019)
Apple sued Qualcomm in January 2017, accusing the chip supplier of overcharging for patents and demanding about $1 billion in rebates. Qualcomm countersued, and courts and regulators in the US, Germany, China, and elsewhere issued conflicting orders. In September 2018, a Munich court banned sales of some iPhone models, and Apple pulled them from German stores.
The companies settled in April 2019. Apple paid an estimated $4.5 billion and signed a six-year patent license, ending the threat of country-by-country iPhone bans.
The deal preserved Qualcomm's licensing model and set the pattern for large supplier-patent fights that run across borders before ending in a settlement.
Like Micron-YMTC, the conflict produced sales bans in individual countries that forced the parties to settle globally.