Qualcomm Accused of Anticompetitive Practices by FTC – New York Times

The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm on Tuesday, accusing the company of using anticompetitive tactics to maintain its monopoly on a key semiconductor used in mobile phones.

The agency, which works with the Justice Department to enforce antitrust law, said that Qualcomm used its dominant position as a supplier of certain phone chips to impose "onerous" supply and licensing terms on cellphone manufacturers and to weaken competitors.

In its complaint, the agency said the patents that Qualcomm sought to license are standard essential patents, which means that the industry uses them widely and they are supposed to be licensed on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms.

The complaint also accused Qualcomm of refusing to license some standard essential patents to rival chip makers, and of entering into an exclusive deal with Apple.

"Qualcomm's customers have accepted elevated royalties and other license terms that do not reflect an assessment of terms that a court or other neutral arbiter would determine to be fair and reasonable," the complaint said.

Qualcomm did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The complaint is probably the agency's last major action under its current chairwoman, Edith Ramirez, a Democrat, who will step down Feb. 10, and comes just days before President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office.

Mr. Trump is expected to name Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen, a Republican, as acting chairwoman and will have three other vacancies to fill to reshape the agency.

Qualcomm has faced a series of antitrust rulings and investigations from regulators across the globe.

South Korea's antitrust regulator fined the company 1.03 trillion won ($ 854 million) in December for what it called unfair practices in patent licensing, a decision Qualcomm said it would challenge in court.

In February 2015, Qualcomm paid a $ 975 million fine in China after a 14-month inquiry, while the European Union in December 2015 accused it of abusing its market power to thwart rivals.

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