According to recent reports, a South Korean Supreme court on Wednesday ruled that the $873 million antitrust fines on Qualcomm were legal. he Supreme Court of Seoul issued the verdict in response to a lawsuit filed by Qualcomm with the Korean Fair Trade Commission. In March 2016, the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) investigated Qualcomm and subsequently fined the company. According to KFTC, Qualcomm manipulates the supply of modem chipsets to patent rights. It, therefore, monopolizes the chip supply which is against the low.
Gizchina News of the week
In July this year, the EU antitrust department also imposed a fine of 242 million euros (about $270 million) on Qualcomm. According to the EU, Qualcomm hinders competition in the baseband chip market. EU antitrust affairs chief, Margrethe Vestager, said on Thursday that Qualcomm abuses its dominant position. This leaves its rival, Icera, with little or no business to do. However, Qualcomm refutes the claim.
This is not the first time that Qualcomm is getting a fine from the EU. In January last year, Qualcomm was fined 997 million euros (about $1.23 billion) by the European Union’s antitrust regulators. This fine is for paying Apple in exchange for Apple’s exclusive use of Qualcomm chips. This thereby excludes Intel and other competitors from the business.
