Intel Corp. is siding with Apple Inc. in the iPhone maker’s ongoing legal battle with Qualcomm Technologies Inc. over patent royalties, saying that the rival chip maker has weaved together an “interlocking web of abusive practices.”

Intel’s statement came in a filing late last week with the U.S. International Trade Commission following a complaint from Qualcomm earlier this month over the alleged patent infringement of some Apple devices. Alongside its complaint, Qualcomm asked the ITC to block the import of some iPhone and iPad models to the U.S. However, the request only covered Apple devices that use cellular baseband processors supplied by Intel.

Apple and Qualcomm’s legal battle kicked off back in January when the iPhone maker filed a lawsuit accusing the chip maker of overcharging for its patented technologies, which include microprocessors and cellular technologies. Apple later said it was withholding almost $1 billion in contractual payments it owed pending the outcome of the case.

Now, seeing its own business threatened, Intel has weighed into the dispute, saying that Qualcomm’s efforts to ban the import of some Apple devices is a “transparent effort to stave off lawful competition from Qualcomm’s only rival.”

Intel’s words only got harsher, as the company described Qualcomm’s actions as a “twisted use of the Commission’s process.” Intel added that it was just the latest in a long line of anticompetitive strategies Qualcomm has used to crush its competition. “And although those strategies have sometimes been subtle or complex, Qualcomm’s latest complaint could not be more blatant in its anticompetitive aims,” Intel said.

Intel added that any import ban would cause “significant harm to the public interest” as it would ensure that Qualcomm maintain its “hold on the premium LTE modem merchant market.”

Image: Morton Lin/Flickr