Qualcomm is urging U.S. trade regulators to rescind a judge's ruling and impose import bans on some of Apple's iPhone models, Reuters reported. The two companies have long been involved in patent disputes.

Qualcomm seeks a ban in the hope that the two companies will give Apple a preemptive strike in mid-April before they go to court for Qualcomm's patent licensing practices in San Diego.

Prior to that, Qualcomm had put pressure on Apple through smaller legal challenges and successfully banned some models of the iPhone from being sold in China and Germany, forcing Apple to export only models with Qualcomm chips to some markets.

Any possible ban on the import of the iPhone into the United States may be short-lived, as Apple first disclosed last week that it had found a software fix to avoid infringing a Qualcomm patent. Apple asked regulators to provide up to six months to prove that the repair was working properly.

Qualcomm filed a lawsuit in 2017 to the United States International Trade Commission, in violation of the accused apple iPhone part of Qualcomm's patents, to help the intelligent mobile phone running smoothly and will not run out of battery. At that time, high requirements for using Intel chips, some of the old models iPhone model import ban.

In September 2018, ITC Administrative Law Judge Thomas·Thomas Pender found that Apple infringed a patent in the case, but he refused to issue a ban. Pender believes that a ban on the Intel chip's iPhone will allow Qualcomm to effectively monopolize modem chips in the U.S. market.

Pender's ruling says it is in the public interest to maintain competition in the modern chip market as 5G networks become online faster in the next few years.

It is rare for ITC to find patent infringement but not prohibit imports. In December, ITC said it would review Pender's decision and decide whether to maintain or withdraw it by the end of March.