Qualcomm to face FTC antitrust suit
A judge has denied Qualcomm’s request to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit brought against it by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
In January, the FTC filed a complaint at the US District for the Northern District of California, accusing Qualcomm of using unfair licensing tactics to “maintain its monopoly” in the supply of key semiconductor devices used in cell phones and other consumer products.
The FTC claimed that Qualcomm had obtained elevated royalties and other licence terms for its standard-essential patents (SEPs) by “threatening to disrupt cell phone manufacturers’ supply of baseband processors”.
Qualcomm also owns patents that it has declared essential to industry standards that enable cellular connectivity, said the FTC.
The FTC further alleged that Qualcomm has used its dominant position to “impose onerous and anti-competitive supply and licensing terms on cell phone manufacturers and to weaken competitors”.
In April, Qualcomm filed a motion to dismiss.
“The FTC contends that Qualcomm’s practice violates its FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) commitments. Even if that were true (which it is not), alleging a FRAND violation is not enough to make out an antitrust claim,” said Qualcomm.
However, in an order handed down on Tuesday, June 27, US District Judge Lucy Koh rejected the motion to dismiss.
She ruled that the FTC had adequately alleged that Qualcomm had taken part in anti-competitive conduct.
“The court finds that FTC has adequately alleged that Qualcomm violated a duty to deal in refusing to license its FRAND-encumbered SEPs to its modem chips competitors," she said.
Qualcomm is also facing a $1 billion lawsuit brought by Apple in January.
Apple has accused Qualcomm of abusing its monopoly in the mobile device market to gain unfair royalties from Apple’s inventions.
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