March 30, 2021
The U.S.Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on March 29, 2021 that it will drop its four-year antitrust lawsuit against Qualcomm and will not seek Supreme Court review of the Federal Appeals Court ruling. The move comes after the FTC accused Qualcomm of abusing its dominant position in smartphone chip manufacturing by charging handset makers excessive licensing fees.
In 2017, the FTC accused Qualcomm of imposing unfair licensing terms on Apple Inc (AAPL.US). This is the first time Qualcomm has been accused. Then Judge Lucy Koh ruled in 2019 that Qualcomm had violated antitrust law.
But in August 2020, Qualcomm successfully appealed Koh's decision, arguing that its licensing strategy had driven acceleration and improvement in the smartphone modem industry.
Apple was also involved in a lawsuit against Qualcomm over similar issues, but the two companies later settled the lawsuit in 2019, with Apple paying Qualcomm between $4.5 billion and $4.7 billion and signing a six-year licensing agreement.
Source: Zhitong finance and economics
