US judge rules against Qualcomm in antitrust probe
By Abigail Townsend
Date: Wednesday 22 May 2019
(Sharecast News) - A US judge has ruled that tech giant Qualcomm unlawfully suppressed competition in the market for mobile phone chips, and has ordered it to renegotiate contracts.
Ruling in favour of the US Federal Trade Commission, US District Judge Lucy Koh said that licensing practices at the US company had "strangled competition" in key parts of the modem chip market.
Koh also found that Qualcomm's licensing practices had "harmed rivals, OEMs, and end consumers in the process".
She said Qualcomm should renegotiate licensing agreements with customers so that they were free of unfair tactics, such as threatening to cut off access to its chips, according to the Wall Street Journal. It also reported that Koh had ruled the company must license patents to rivals at a fair and reasonable price, and ordered that Qualcomm should not sign supply agreements with smartphone makers that block rivals selling chips into devices.
Confirming the ruling in the FTC's favour, Qualcomm said it would seek an immediate stay of the judgement and would appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Don Rosenberg, executive vice president and general counsel of Qualcomm, added: "We strongly disagree with the judge's conclusions, her interpretation of the facts and her application of the law."
Qualcomm, the world's largest supplier of mobile phone chips, has developed technology that is integral to mobile phones being able to connect to networks, and holds patents related to 3G, 4G and 5G networking technology. But two years ago the FTC launched an antitrust probe, claiming that Qualcomm was operating a monopoly in the chip market and forcing customers such as Apple to work with it exclusively. It accused Qualcomm of charging excessive licensing fees.
Qualcomm has consistently denied the allegations.
In April, Qualcomm and Apple announced that litigation between the two companies around the world would cease, after they agreed to settle one of the longest-running legal fights in the technology industry. Apple and its suppliers had accused Qualcomm of overcharging for royalties since 2013, and stopped paying fees in 2017. In return, Qualcomm accused Apple of giving its intellectual property to Intel and sought damages and back payments.
Shares in Qualcomm were down 12% in pre-market trading.
Email this article to a friend
or share it with one of these popular networks:
You are here: news
10 Lower Thames St,
London EC3R 6EN