Published: 12/29/16
Publication: FOSS Patents
South Korea’s competition watchdog, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), has just imposed a $853 million fine on Qualcomm for “monpolistic” practices involving its patent dealings. In particular, the antitrust agency stated that Qualcomm “has violated its agreement to license patents on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.”
Qualcomm can and will appeal this decision, but the mobile device industry at large is keeping its fingers crossed that Korea’s top court will affirm the KFTC ruling. The fact that Qualcomm filed an action in the U.S. in order to get access to information provided by Apple, Samsung and others to Korea’s competition authority is interesting. It’s hard to imagine that those companies would have told the KFTC “we’re OK with what Qualcomm is doing and we’re happy to pay even more going forward.” – [READ MORE]