FTC presents up on its antitrust wrestle with Qualcomm

The US Federal Commerce Fee is doubtlessly no longer pursuing its antitrust case against Qualcomm anymore four years after it filed a lawsuit against the corporate for alleged anti-competitive practices. Acting Chairwoman Rebecca Kelly Slaughter has issued a assertion asserting that the agency “will no longer petition the Supreme Courtroom to learn about” the Courtroom of Appeals’ resolution final 365 days. The agency won its lawsuit aid in 2019, but the appeals court docket reversed the resolution in 2020. On the time, the FTC acknowledged it can perhaps perhaps even be pondering its choices — now, it sounds devour the agency is willing to let it run.

In step with the FTC’s current court docket submitting, Qualcomm used to be “engaged in exclusionary behavior that taxes its opponents’ baseband processor gross sales, reduces opponents’ skill and incentive to innovate, and raises prices paid by consumers for mobile phones and tablets.” The agency accused Qualcomm of employing monopolistic tactics and wished the corporate to renegotiate billions of greenbacks price of patent licensing agreements with smartphone makers. It acknowledged Qualcomm threatened prospects’ supplies if they didn’t accept as true with its patent licensing terms and that it “taxed” prospects after they purchased processors made by opponents. Moreover to, it accused Qualcomm of refusing to license patents to its opponents.

The appeals court docket dominated, on the opposite hand, that the chipmaker’s actions didn’t quantity to unlawful behavior. In her assertion, Slaughter acknowledged she believes that the district court docket’s conclusion that Qualcomm violated antitrust felony guidelines “used to be totally honest and that the court docket of appeals erred in concluding otherwise.” That acknowledged, the agency determined no longer to predicament the appeals court docket’s resolution, “given the plenty of headwinds going throughout the Fee on this matter.”