Qualcomm wants the FTC’s anti-competition lawsuit dismissed

Recently, Qualcomm has been finding itself in quite a bit of trouble with regulators in various countries. The chip maker was recently fined a huge sum of money over anti-competitive practices in South Korea and now, the FTC is also on the case in the US, with Apple being one of the key companies helping with the commission's case. Qualcomm has already fired back at this US lawsuit from the FTC but this week, the company also began seeking dismissal of the suit entirely.

Qualcomm filed the motion on Monday at the US District Court in San Jose, California. In its claim, Qualcomm states that the FTC's complaint fails to outline any ways in which Qualcomm has violated antitrust laws or caused competitors harm. The FTC obviously disagrees, as does Apple, which has been tied into an exclusive contract with Qualcomm for years.

The FTC's complaint against Qualcomm initially claimed that the chip maker had been preventing Apple from working with competing companies for five years straight:  “Qualcomm precluded Apple from sourcing baseband processors from Qualcomm’s competitors from 2011 to 2016. Qualcomm recognized that any competitor that won Apple’s business would become stronger, and used exclusivity to prevent Apple from working with and improving the effectiveness of Qualcomm’s competitors.”

Apple has also filed its own lawsuit against Qualcomm, seeking $1 billion after claiming that Qualcomm overcharged for licensing its patents. However, so far there has been little news on that front since the initial complaint filing. The FTC has also yet to speak out following Qualcomm's motion to dismiss.

KitGuru Says: Qualcomm is having a lot of legal battles on its plate at the moment. We will continue to follow this story for updates. 

 

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