Qualcomm
licensing found to run foul of Korean competition law
Wednesday 18 November 2015
The Korea Fair Trade Commission
has started an investigation into Qualcomm's licensing practices. Qualcomm said
it received the Case Examiner's Report with allegations and will prepare a
response. The report alleges, among other things, that Qualcomm does not
properly negotiate aspects of its licences, and that its practice of licensing
patents only at the device level and requiring that chip customers be licensed
to its intellectual property violate Korean competition law. The report
proposes remedies including modifications to certain business practices and
monetary penalties.
Qualcomm said the allegations in the report are "not supported by
the facts and are a serious misapplication of law." Its patent licensing
practices, used for almost two decades, "are lawful and
pro-competitive", the company added. The group said it will mount a
defense at the Commission hearings in the hope that the Commission will reject
the conclusions of the Examiner's Report.
The FTC already fined Qualcomm KRW 260 billion (USD 235 million) in 2009
after concluding that it abused its dominant position in selling chips to
mobile phone makers in Korea. As part of that case Qualcomm agreed to disclose
information that would allow Korean companies to develop software for its
chips.
-Telecompaper
