Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

You are here: MacNN Forums > News > Tech News > Qualcomm agrees to pay $975M fine to end Chinese antitrust case

Qualcomm agrees to pay $975M fine to end Chinese antitrust case
Thread Tools
NewsPoster
MacNN Staff
Join Date: Jul 2012
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Feb 10, 2015, 03:10 PM
 
Qualcomm has agreed to pay a fine to end an antitrust investigation in China. The settlement, which involves the chip producer handing over 6.09 billion yuan (approximately $975 million) to China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), as well as performing other actions, after the NDRC declared Qualcomm had violated an anti-monopoly law.

Aside from the fees, which Qualcomm claims it will not be contesting, the manufacturer will be offering licenses to its current 3G and 4G essential Chinese patents separately from licenses for other patents, and will provide patent lists to companies during its negotiation process. In the event it wants to cross-license with another company as part of the offer, Qualcomm must "negotiate with the licensee in good faith and provide fair consideration for such rights."

The royalties for the licenses will be set at 5 percent for 3G devices, including multimode items capable of connecting to both 3G and 4G, with 4G devices including three-mode LTE-TDD devices that do not use CDMA or WCDMA having their royalties set at 3.5 percent. For each, the royalty will be based off 65 percent of the net selling price for the device, rather than the full price.

The rectification plan also includes the requirement that Qualcomm will not sell chips or coerce licensees to agreements with terms deemed unfavorable by the NDRC, though it does not force Qualcomm to sell to non-licensees, and it does not apply to customers that refuse to report their sales of licensed devices. Existing licensees will also be given the chance to switch to the new terms.

"We are pleased that the investigation has concluded and believe that our licensing business is now well positioned to fully participate in China's rapidly accelerating adoption of our 3G/4G technology," said Qualcomm president Derek Aberle in a statement.

The NDRC is far from finished with investigating non-Chinese companies. The regulator is still investigating Microsoft, following its antitrust raid of the company's local offices last summer. China's investigations have come under fire from the US Federal Trade Commission and other opponents, with FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez previously expressing concern that the enforcement policy "focused on reducing royalty payments for local implementers as a matter of industrial policy, rather than protecting competition and long-run consumer welfare."
( Last edited by NewsPoster; Feb 10, 2015 at 04:40 PM. )
     
Ham Sandwich
Guest
Status:
Reply With Quote
Feb 10, 2015, 04:35 PM
 
I nearly choked when I saw the title: "Qualcomm agrees to pay $975B fine..."

$975 billion? Who the heck can afford to pay a near $1 trillion fine?

Edit: Dang, it was a fun typo while it lasted
( Last edited by Ham Sandwich; Feb 14, 2015 at 04:00 PM. )
     
Malcolm Owen
Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: South Wales, UK
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Feb 10, 2015, 04:43 PM
 
Apologies. I'm used to putting numbers representing billions into headlines. Corrected.
     
   
Thread Tools
 
Forum Links
Forum Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Top
Privacy Policy
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 01:30 AM.
All contents of these forums © 1995-2017 MacNN. All rights reserved.
Branding + Design: www.gesamtbild.com
vBulletin v.3.8.8 © 2000-2017, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.,