Published: 1/23/17
Publication: Lexology
“Ten years after the European Commission opened an investigation into Qualcomm’s royalties for 3G essential patents, and 8 years after it closed that investigation without any finding of infringement, the US FTC last week week (January 2017) brought a new complaint against the chipset manufacturer’s patent licensing practices.
In the meantime, Qualcomm has not been long out of the competition authorities’ sights, with statements of objections in the EU on exclusivity payments and predatory pricing, an infringement decision and $853m fine by the Korean FTC (the second imposed on the company by that agency) just after Christmas last year, and a settlement worth over $900m with the Chinese antitrust authorities in 2015. It has also attracted private actions, as we reported here (Icera’s 2016 claim in the English courts) and as has been further reported in recent days (Apple’s new lawsuit in California, alleging overcharging for chips and failure to pay rebates due).” – [READ MORE]