Apple's chief operating officer and a top corporate lawyer at the company are fighting an effort that could require them to answer questions in a private securities class action against chip maker Qualcomm in U.S. court in California.

Lawyers for Jeffrey Williams, who has served as Apple's chief operating office since 2015, and Bruce Watrous, the company's chief corporate and commercial counsel, on Friday asked a U.S. judge to quash subpoenas from Qualcomm and the plaintiffs in the investors' lawsuit.

Apple, Williams and Watrous are not parties to the 2017 lawsuit, which alleged Qualcomm made misrepresentations about certain business practices that artificially boosted shares between 2012 and 2017.

The complaint accused San Diego-based Qualcomm and executives of hiding anticompetitive sales and licensing practices.

In the investor lawsuit, U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Berg in May said Qualcomm and the plaintiffs could question two current or former Apple employees. Qualcomm and the plaintiffs said they agreed to that number of Apple deposition witnesses.

Qualcomm wants to inquire about communication between Apple and the Federal Trade Commission, and Apple's cooperation with the agency, related to an antitrust case the FTC brought in 2017 against Qualcomm.

Apple also said its "communications with the FTC are not relevant to the securities litigation between Qualcomm and its shareholders regarding alleged false statements by Qualcomm."

For more on this, read the full Reuters report.