Possible investigation comes on heels of $975M Chinese settlement
Just days after agreeing to a nine-figure settlement with the Chinese government, chipmaker Qualcomm is now under investigation by South Korean commerce authorities, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission is apparently looking into whether Qualcomm violated antitrust laws related to patent royalties.
Back in 2009, the South Korean Fair Trade Commission fined San Diego, Calif.-based Qualcomm $235 million.
According to that ruling, the fine was levied against Qualcomm for “abusing its dominant position by charging discriminatory royalties and offering conditional rebates. A dominant firm in CDMA technology licensing and modem chip/RF chip markets based on its CDMA source technology, Qualcomm excluded its competitors … thereby maintaining its market dominance.”
In the $975 million China settlement, Qualcomm will offer licenses to its current 3G and 4G essential Chinese patents separately from licenses to its other patents and will provide patent lists during the negotiation process.
If Qualcomm seeks a cross license from a Chinese licensee as part of such an offer, it will negotiate with the licensee in good faith and provide fair consideration for such rights.
Qualcomm will give its existing licensees an opportunity to elect to take the new terms for sales of branded devices for use in China, effective Jan. 1, 2015.
