South Korea Fines Qualcomm $854 Million for Violating Competition Laws
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South Korea’s antitrust regulator fined Qualcomm Inc $854 million for what it called unfair business practices in patent licensing and modem chip sales, a decision the U.S. chipmaker said it will challenge in court, reports Reuters.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission ruled that Qualcomm abused its dominant market position and forced handset makers to pay royalties for an unnecessarily broad set of patents as part of sales of its modem chips, according to the report by .
The commission also claimed Qualcomm restricted competition by refusing or limiting licensing of its standard essential patents related to modem chips to rival chipmakers. Those action negatively affected the rivals’ sales and left their products vulnerable to lawsuits, according to the complaint.