US jurisdiction report: Qualcomm’s patent licensing headache

Qualcomm finds itself a defendant in a lawsuit initiated by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division. The FTC characterises this lawsuit as an enforcement action that challenges Qualcomm’s alleged unlawful maintenance of a monopoly in its sales and licensing of semiconductor devices that enable cellular communications in cellphones and other products.

Stated differently, Qualcomm has a “no licence-no chips” policy under which it withholds the sale of its baseband processors unless and until a customer relents and accepts an elevated royalty-bearing licence under what are known as standard-essential patents (SEPs).