Published: July 11, 2017
Publication: FOSS Patents
“A couple of weeks ago, Judge Lucy Koh of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California denied Qualcomm’s motion to dismiss the FTC’s antitrust complaint. My theory is that Qualcomm was trying to necessitate an amended FTC complaint, ideally (from Qualcomm’s point of view, not mine) to the effect that a FRAND rate-setting determination would have become necessary, in which case Qualcomm could have tried again to consolidate the FTC’s case with Apple’s case in the Southern District of California since I doubt that two federal courts (here, even in the same state) would have wanted to make duplicative and most likely inconsistent FRAND determinations. But Judge Koh was FRAND-friendlier than I would have thought, so Qualcomm had to file an answer to the FTC’s complaint (almost six months after the filing of the competition authority’s complaint).”