U.S. ITC judge distrusts testimony for which Qualcomm paid a single expert $3-4 million in Apple dispute

“There’s a lesson for life that Qualcomm may have learned in recent weeks as an unintended side effect of its dispute with Apple: If smart judges figure out whom they can trust, the facts are not for sale,” Florian Mueller writes for FOSS Patents.
“This week the United States International Trade Commission published a redacted version of the late-September initial determination by Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Thomas B. Pender in the investigation of Qualcomm’s first ITC complaint against Apple,” Mueller writes. “The one Qualcomm expert ALJ Pender critized most harshly is J. Gregory Sidak, who is running his own consulting firm named Criterion Economics:”
“[T]he amount of money paid to Mr. Sidak, before the current investigation, was approximately $1 million over several years and […] the company he owns has invoiced between $3 million and $4 million just for this [ITC] investigation [of Qualcomm’s first complaint against Apple] alone. […] In my almost 39 years of practicing law, I have never seen or heard of anything even approaching this level of financial commitment by a witness to a party. Moreover, even absent this financial commitment, I was troubled by his testimony, for example his testimony about there being enough iPhones without the introduction of any new models in 2018 […] ignored reality. From his financial relationship with Qualcomm bias may be presumed, and I find it would be an abuse of my discretion to give any material credibility to this witness or his findings. I also note the [ITC] Staff questioned his credibility twice during their discussion of the Public Interest, and that I noted it above.” (emphasis added)
Mueller writes, “Qualcomm must slowly but surely be concerned about its credibility.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The jig is up, Qualcomm!
Qualcomm’s unreasonable, illogical, and irrational licensing scam, which charges a percentage of the total cost of all components in the phone, even non-Qualcomm components, must end.
SEE ALSO:
Qualcomm claims Apple owes them $7 billion in royalties while Apple says 73% of Qualcomm’s patents have expired – October 27, 2018
Qualcomm seeks to keep patent claims out of legal fight with Apple – October 26, 2018
Qualcomm and U.S. FTC ask judge to delay ruling to pursue settlement talks – October 16, 2018