\tSouth Korea\u2019s antitrust watchdog slashed a fine imposed on Qualcomm in 2009 for setting unreasonable and discriminatory terms around patent licensing by 18 per cent, bringing it down to $200 million, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n
The chipmaker was fined KRW273.2 billion ($242 million) by the country\u2019s Fair Trade Commission (FTC)\u00a0in 2009 [1], in a case relating to subsidies paid to Samsung and LG Electronics on condition that only Qualcomm silicon was used in some device models.<\/p>\n
Last month [2], the country\u2019s Supreme Court sent the penalty decision for reconsideration, due to the way in which the market share of one of its smartphone customers was interpreted.<\/p>\n
The court ruled that because LG\u2019s market share between 2006 and 2008 was below 40 per cent, it did not count as a majority player, thus limiting the impact of Qualcomm\u2019s actions on the market.<\/p>\n
To reflect this, the FTC said it had reduced the fine, but warned that a \u201cmonopolist enterprise\u2019s abuse of its market position cannot be tolerated\u201d.<\/p>\n
Qualcomm is also caught up in a separate, and bigger, suit\u00a0related to a 2016 fine [3]\u00a0covering chip supply and patent licensing in the country.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile earlier this week [4] a US court awarded Qualcomm around $31 million in damages from Apple, after finding the iPhone maker guilty of infringing on three of the chip giant\u2019s patents.<\/p>\n[1] https:\/\/www.mobileworldlive.com\/s-korea-claims-qualcomm-licensing-unfair
\n[2] https:\/\/www.mobileworldlive.com\/devices\/news-devices\/south-korea-to-re-examine-qualcomm-fine\/
\n[3] https:\/\/www.mobileworldlive.com\/featured-content\/home-banner\/korean-court-rejects-qualcomm-antitrust-challenge\/
\n[4] https:\/\/www.mobileworldlive.com\/featured-content\/top-three\/apple-fined-over-qualcomm-patent-transgression\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
South Korea’s antitrust watchdog slashed a fine imposed on Qualcomm in 2009 for setting unreasonable …<\/p>\n
The post Korea cuts Qualcomm fine<\/a> appeared first on Mobile World Live<\/a>.<\/p>\n