Qualcomm to appeal $773m competition fine in Taiwan
Semiconductor company Qualcomm has said it will appeal against a $773 million fine issued by the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission (TFTC) for violating competition rules.
The Commission said in a statement on its website yesterday, October 11, that Qualcomm had a monopoly over the chip market for several modem technologies and refused to license its technology to “other industry players”, thus falling foul of local rules.
It added that in Taiwan, Qualcomm is now required to submit a progress report every six months to the Commission on negotiations with related parties.
In a statement released yesterday, October 11, Qualcomm announced that intends to appeal against the ruling.
“Qualcomm disagrees with the decision summarised in the TFTC’s press release and intends to seek to stay any required behavioural measures and appeal the decision to the Taiwanese courts,” it stated.
“The fine bears no rational relationship to the amount of Qualcomm’s revenues or activities in Taiwan, and Qualcomm will appeal the amount of the fine and the method used to calculate it.”
Qualcomm has had a tough few months in IP courts across the globe, having been found liable for carrying unfair business practices in a number of jurisdictions.
WIPR reported last month that Qualcomm had revealed plans to appeal against a Seoul High Court ruling that denied Qualcomm’s request to stay an order issued against it by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC).
The court had rejected Qualcomm’s bid to suspend the KFTC’s December decision, which saw Qualcomm fined W1.03 trillion ($912.34 million) for unfair business practices in patent licensing.
In February 2015, Qualcomm ageed to pay a fine of nearly $1 billion to a Chinese government agency following a competition investigation into the company’s patent licensing programme.
The news came after a 14-month investigation carried out by the National Development and Reform Commission into Qualcomm’s licensing of chips to mobile phone handset makers.
Qualcomm is also involved in a complex multi-billion-dollar dispute with Apple over patent licensing, with both parties filing several lawsuits in the US.
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