Qualcomm under new antitrust pressure, this time in Korea
Published: 19 June, 2009
READ MORE: Qualcomm
Qualcomm may be sailing on fairly calm legal seas in the west after its settlements with Nokia and Broadcom, but it faces renewed pressure on the antitrust front in Korea, where several of its largest customers, including Samsung and LG, are based.
The country's antitrust authorities have charged Qualcomm with unfair licensing terms, in addition to charges the company has acknowledged. The Korean Fair Trade Commission (FTC) alleges that the chip designer set "unreasonable and discriminatory terms for licensing its patents", according to an internal source, speaking to news agency Reuters.
According to Qualcomm statements, the Korean disputes revolve around how it integrates multimedia products into its chipsets, and also the rebates and discounts it gives customers of its chips. It also says that Qualcomm has broken its commitment to license its patents, where these are included in international standards, on a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory basis, harming competition and inflating handset prices.
The complaints appear to have been initiated by Texas Instruments and (despite their recent US truce) Broadcom, plus private Korean firms Nextreaming and Thin Multimedia. As the reports surfaced yesterday, Qualcomm was not immediately available for comment.
The KFTC has been investigating various charges against Qualcomm over the past three years, and held the latest two days of hearings this week. A decision is expected in early July - if this goes against Qualcomm, the US company could be fined, and/or forced to change its business practises.
Korea Times estimates that Qualcomm's revenue from Korean vendors is KRW2.5 trillion to KRW3 trillion ($2bn-$2.4bn).
Qualcomm has also been under investigation by the European Commission for anti-competitive behaviour, though this action could be dropped following its settlements with Nokia and others.
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