from the FoRewARNeD-FRAgmeNteD-FeeblebRAiNeD-FAiRylAND dept.
The U.S. FTC is going after Qualcomm:
The Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint in federal district court charging Qualcomm Inc. with using anticompetitive tactics to maintain its monopoly in the supply of a key semiconductor device used in cell phones and other consumer products. Qualcomm is the world's dominant supplier of baseband processors – devices that manage cellular communications in mobile products. The FTC alleges that Qualcomm has used its dominant position as a supplier of certain baseband processors to impose onerous and anticompetitive supply and licensing terms on cell phone manufacturers and to weaken competitors.
[...] According to the complaint, by threatening to disrupt cell phone manufacturers' supply of baseband processors, Qualcomm obtains elevated royalties and other license terms for its standard-essential patents that manufacturers would otherwise reject. These royalties amount to a tax on the manufacturers' use of baseband processors manufactured by Qualcomm's competitors, a tax that excludes these competitors and harms competition. Increased costs imposed by this tax are passed on to consumers, the complaint alleges. By excluding competitors, Qualcomm impedes innovation that would offer significant consumer benefits, including those that foster the increased interconnectivity of consumer products, vehicles, buildings, and other items commonly referred to as the Internet of Things.
Get in line:
EU Investigates Qualcomm For Antitrust Activities
Qualcomm Faces EU Antitrust Charges Over "Predatory Pricing"
Qualcomm Fined $853 Million by South Korea for Antitrust Violations
Also at Bloomberg and The Verge.
Related Stories
Qualcomm is under investigation by the European Union's antitrust authority, which suspects the company of abusing its dominant position in the market for 3G and 4G chipsets used in smartphones and tablets.
The European Commission has initiated proceedings against Qualcomm in two investigations, it said Thursday. The first concerns whether Qualcomm breached EU antitrust rules by offering financial incentives to phone manufacturers on condition that they buy chipsets exclusively, or mostly, from the company; the second, whether Qualcomm engaged in predatory pricing, selling below cost to force competitors out of the market.
Mobile processors and baseband chipsets, which handle the communications protocols used in wireless networks, form a significant proportion of the cost of a mobile phone and, at least at the low end of the market, margins are getting thinner, leaving phonemakers more vulnerable to pricing pressures from their suppliers.
The EU Commissioner in charge of competition policy, Margrethe Vestager, said "We are launching these investigations because we want to be sure that high tech suppliers can compete on the merits of their products. Many customers use electronic devices such as a mobile phone or a tablet and we want to ensure that they ultimately get value for money. Effective competition is the best way to stimulate innovation."
Qualcomm's business practices have come under antitrust authorities' scrutiny before. Earlier this year, Chinese regulators fined Qualcomm $975 million for overcharging device makers there.
[...]
Qualcomm said it had been notified that the Commission had initiated proceedings against it in the two ongoing investigations. It will continue to cooperate with the Commission, but believes the concerns are without merit, it said.
More coverage of this story can be found at The Register and ITWorld.
Original Submission
Qualcomm could face as much as a $2.7 billion fine (10% of its 2014 global revenues) if found guilty of new European Commission antitrust charges:
The European Commission (EC) [has] charged Qualcomm with violating antitrust rules in the European Union (EU). The EC said that Qualcomm abused its powers to thwart rivals by paying OEM customers to buy chips exclusively from the company.
Earlier this year, Qualcomm was found guilty with violating antitrust laws in China as well, and it was forced to pay a record $1 billion fine. China accused Qualcomm of maintaining royalty rates for 3G and 4G technologies that were too high. The Chinese government demanded that alongside the $1 billion fine, Qualcomm would also have to lower its license prices for its patents by a third.
Qualcomm is also being investigated for its licensing prices in Japan and South Korea. The EU also investigated Qualcomm for unreasonably high licensing prices in 2009, but it ended up dropping that investigation.
This time, the antitrust accusations in the EU are different and much more damning for the company. The EU's competition enforcer said that Qualcomm may have illegally paid a major customer for exclusively using its chips. It also said that Qualcomm sold chipsets below cost to drive competitors out of the market, which is a strategy that is called "predatory pricing."
The predatory pricing accusation came from Icera, a maker of software-defined radio technology. The company was later acquired by Nvidia but could never successfully break into the modem market, which is why Nvidia later decided to sell it.
Previously: EU Investigates Qualcomm For Antitrust Activities
Qualcomm Inc. has been fined 1.03 trillion won (approximately $853 million) by South Korea's antitrust regulator:
The South Korean Fair Trade Commission said Wednesday that the company licensed its key patents only to mobile-phone makers and didn't properly negotiate the terms of its licenses. The agency also said Qualcomm coerced its customers into signing patent license contracts when selling its chips used in mobile phones in the country, and it didn't fairly pay for the use of patents held by other phone makers.
The decision from the home country of Samsung Electronics Co. adds to investor concern that the San Diego-based chipmaker, which is also the subject of investigations in the U.S. and Europe, may struggle to defend its lucrative licensing business. Qualcomm gets the majority of profit -- $6.5 billion in its most recent financial year -- from selling the right to use technology that's fundamental to all modern phone systems.
Qualcomm, calling the decision "unprecedented and insupportable," said it will appeal the decision in Seoul's High Court. The KFTC ruling doesn't go into effect immediately and Qualcomm will seek a stay from the courts while it appeals, said Don Rosenberg, the company's general counsel.
Following the Federal Trade Commission's lawsuit against Qualcomm, Apple has also sued the company, seeking $1 billion in damages:
Apple is suing Qualcomm for roughly $1 billion, saying Qualcomm has been "charging royalties for technologies they have nothing to do with." The suit follows the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's lawsuit against Qualcomm earlier this week over unfair patent licensing practices. [...] Apple says that Qualcomm has taken "radical steps," including "withholding nearly $1 billion in payments from Apple as retaliation for responding truthfully to law enforcement agencies investigating them." Apple added, "Despite being just one of over a dozen companies who contributed to basic cellular standards, Qualcomm insists on charging Apple at least five times more in payments than all the other cellular patent licensors we have agreements with combined."
Also at Reuters, The Verge , and Ars Technica .
Qualcomm accuses Apple of helping Intel with chip software
The patent licensing battle between Apple and Qualcomm keeps getting more heated. Wednesday, Qualcomm filed another lawsuit against Apple, this time alleging Apple shared confidential Qualcomm software information with its chip rival, Intel. The breach of contract lawsuit said Qualcomm gave Apple "unprecedented access to Qualcomm's very valuable and highly confidential software, including source code." In return, Apple agreed to take steps to keep the software confidential and secure. But Qualcomm said instead it found that Apple shared information with Intel.
In one instance, Apple requested confidential software information from Qualcomm and cc'd an Intel engineer on the message, Qualcomm said.
Qualcomm wants a court to declare Apple breached the agreement and award damages, among other demands. "As the direct and proximate result of Apple's conduct, Qualcomm has suffered significant damages in an amount to be proven at trial," the filing said.
Apple also hasn't complied with Qualcomm's rights to audit Apple's compliance with the provisions of their software agreement, Qualcomm said in its lawsuit. It wants to do so to make sure Apple hasn't shared more information with Intel.
Also at Bloomberg, AppleInsider, and MacRumors.
Previously: U.S. Federal Trade Commission Sues Qualcomm for Anti-Competitive Practices
Qualcomm's Good Quarter
Intel Hints at Patent Fight With Microsoft and Qualcomm Over x86 Emulation
Apple vs. Qualcomm Escalates, Manufacturers Join in, Lawsuits Filed in California and Germany
Apple Could Switch From Qualcomm to Intel and MediaTek for Modems
Qualcomm Gets $1.2 Billion EU Fine for Apple Chip Payments
Qualcomm Inc. was fined 997 million euros ($1.2 billion) by the European Union for paying Apple Inc. to shun rival chips in its iPhones.
The largest maker of chips that help run smartphones "paid billions of U.S. dollars to a key customer, Apple, so that it would not buy from rivals," EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. "This meant that no rival could effectively challenge Qualcomm in this market, no matter how good their products were."
Qualcomm struck a deal with Apple in 2011 that pledged significant payments if Apple only used Qualcomm chipsets for the iPhone and iPad devices. That agreement was renewed in 2013 until 2016. Qualcomm warned it would stop these payments if Apple sold another product with a rival chip. This effectively shut out competitors such as Intel Corp. from the market for LTE baseband chipsets used in the 4G mobile phone standard for five years, the EU said.
European Commission press release. Also at Reuters.
Previously: EU Investigates Qualcomm For Antitrust Activities
U.S. Federal Trade Commission Sues Qualcomm for Anti-Competitive Practices
Apple Could Switch From Qualcomm to Intel and MediaTek for Modems
Related: Apple vs. Qualcomm Escalates, Manufacturers Join in, Lawsuits Filed in California and Germany
Qualcomm Files New Lawsuit Against Apple, Alleging it Shared Confidential Information with Intel
Broadcom Offers $105 Billion for Qualcomm; Moves HQ Back to the USA
US Appeals Court Reverses Antitrust Ruling in FTC vs Qualcomm
It's been over three years since the United States FTC had charged Qualcomm with antitrust violations over cellular modem patents and business practices. That suit ultimately received a ruling in May of 2019 against Qualcomm, resulting in an injunction for Qualcomm to renegotiate its licensing agreements with its customers. Qualcomm had subsequently appealed the ruling, putting the order on hold, and today, a bit over a year later, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has finally issued an opinion, reversing and vacating the injunction, resulting in a win for Qualcomm at this moment in time.
The appeals court's opinion centres around the FTC's use of anti-trust law to hold Qualcomm accountable for some of its controversial business practices in how it handles licensing of its patent portfolio and its "no license, no chip" mode of operation. The opinion attacks the original judgment in that the arguments presented do not fall under the umbrella of anti-trust law violations, and instead it being a matter of contract and patent law.
Previously: U.S. Federal Trade Commission Sues Qualcomm for Anti-Competitive Practices
US DOJ, Worried About 5G Race, Asks For Hearing If Qualcomm's Declared A Monopoly
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Thursday January 19 2017, @03:50AM
First, gubbermint grants a monopoly to company X.
Company X uses it's monopoly position to extract money from end users, customer corporations, competing corporations, government itself, and anyone else from whom they can extract money.
Companies A, B, and C cry in court that Company X is exploiting them.
The same gubbermint which granted the monopoly to Company X now takes Company X to court for exercising it's monopoly "rights".
And, few people see any need to overhaul the system? Insanity seems to rule.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 19 2017, @01:52PM
Start by dismantling the monopolies that government has arrogated to itself.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by linkdude64 on Thursday January 19 2017, @04:23PM
Better to oscillate around the ideal government than to head into a single direction, never to return.
Unless you think people, or any of their creations, are capable of perfection.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Snotnose on Thursday January 19 2017, @04:33AM
that have been available for 50 years. Pharmabro buys a something, then jacks the price from $20 to $2000 for an epipen and he's cool. Qualcomm invents shit and decides how much people will pay within the 16 year patent window, and the farking US Government goes after them?
Newsbreak. People need certain drugs to stay alive. Nobody needs a 2-3-4-5G cellphone to stay alive. Ok, some peeps might. But for fucks sake, going after Qualcomm for this after seeing what the pharma companies are doing is sickening.
/ don't own any Qualcomm stocks
// nor options
Bad decisions, great stories
(Score: 2) by sjames on Thursday January 19 2017, @05:19AM
Qualcomm agreed to license their patents under Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory terms in order to have them incorporated into the standard. The government is going after them for reneging on that agreement now that it's patents are necessary to produce a device compatible with the phone system.
That's not to say the pharmaceutical industry isn't packed full of anti-competitive activities that should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Lester on Thursday January 19 2017, @09:00AM
I sell A, B, C for 2,000. Other suppliers sell A, B, C for 100.
I sell X for 10,000. Other supplier can't sell it because I have the patent.
I go to the customers and say "If you don't buy my A, B, C, I won't sell you X that you need badly"
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 19 2017, @11:53AM
Pharmabro is screwing the general population.
Qualcomm is screwing well connected corporations.