SAN DIEGO -- Qualcomm has filed a lawsuit in US District Court accusing four major ODMs of failing to pay royalties on chips the company sold to Apple.

In the suit, filed in the Southern District of California court, Qualcomm cites Foxconn, Pegatron, Wistron and Compal Electronics for failing to pay as much as $1 billion in fees associated with past chip purchases. The chipmaker asked the court order to compel the manufacturers to comply with their contractual obligations, plus unspecified damages.

All the ODMs are suppliers to Apple, which is suing Qualcomm over contractual pricing claims. At the heart of the matter is a reported $1 billion in rebates Apple insists it is owed by Qualcomm. For its part, Qualcomm claims Apple is withholding royalty payments to the ODMs that in turn should be remitted to Qualcomm.

"While not disputing their contractual obligations to pay for the use of Qualcomm's inventions, the manufacturers say they must follow Apple's instructions not to pay," Qualcomm said.

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