South Korean Supreme Court upholds $242 million antitrust judgement against Qualcomm

“US chipmaker Qualcomm has lost a lawsuit against the Fair Trade Commission [in South Korea], the nation’s antitrust watchdog, over unfair practices to maintain a monopoly in the local mobile communications chip segment in 2009,” Kim Young-won reports for The Korea Herald. “The Supreme Court on Feb. 11 found most of the FTC decisions in 2009 to impose a total of 273 billion won (US$242 million) worth of fines on Qualcomm for illegal kickbacks from 2000 to 2009 to be lawful.”
“Of the 273 billion-won penalty, the court ruled the chipmaker should pay at least 200 billion won, while the remainder needs be reconsidered at a lower court,” Kim reports.
“Some market watchers believe the latest Supreme Court ruling could affect a separate legal fight between the US chipmaker and the FTC,”,” Kim reports. “In 2016, the watchdog decided to levy 1.03 trillion won on Qualcomm for utilizing its market dominance to keep competitors from entering the market and maintain a monopoly. In response, the chip manufacturer filed a complaint with the Seoul High Court.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The Qualcomm extortionists are coming to a sad realization: The jig is up!
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:
Bad news piles up for Qualcomm in Apple dispute – February 10, 2019
Apple wins damages ruling against Qualcomm – February 5, 2019
U.S. FTC: Evidence is ‘overwhelming’ that Qualcomm engaged in exclusionary, anticompetitive conduct – January 30, 2019
Leaked emails reveal new reason why Apple went to war with Qualcomm – January 18, 2019
Apple’s COO Jeff Williams delivers blistering testimony on Qualcomm’s ‘onerous demands’ – January 15, 2019
Apple was paying Qualcomm over $1 billion per year in licensing – January 15, 2019
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Nick P.” for the heads up.]