Qualcomm is convicted in South Korea and sees US case collapse

THE Qualcomm There has been no “luck” in recent decisions regarding their legal battles (with Apple or not) around the world. Recently, two more developments have shown that the chipmaker is in bad shape with global regulatory bodies, which may mean that the company's odyssey in justice may be coming to an end.

South Korea

The first recent decision comes from South Koreawhere the local Supreme Court again ruled that Qualcomm should pay a fine of 273 billion $ 1 billion) regarding anticompetitive practices carried out by the company in the country between 2000 and 2009. Investor.

The court had already determined that payment in 2013, but the company appealed the unsuccessful decision, as we are now seeing. Qualcomm will be required to pay at least 200 billion of the total fine imposed by the Supreme Court; the rest of the amount will be determined by lower instances of Korean justice.

Such a decision, though not directly linked to Apple, is important to strengthen Ma's narrative in the ongoing legal disputes around the world like the one below.

U.S

While Qualcomm is shaken in South Korea, one of its battles with Apple in the United States is slipping to Ma's side, as the FOSS Patents.

Who doesn't remember very well, the microchip giant sued Apple in 2017 alleging infringement of six of its patents on technologies used in iPhones and iPads; Qualcomm's idea was eventually to ban the importation of the devices into the US. However, three of the charges were dropped by the company over the past year, while two others were dismissed by US law.

Qualcomm's last hope was with regard to the latest patent, but Apple failed to infringe on it (even claiming it never did) with a change in iOS 12.1. That is, the situation is now unfavorable for the chip company: even if justice decides in favor of this last patent, a possible ban would only fall on devices running systems prior to iOS 12.1. Because Apple only sells devices running the latest versions of its systems, in practice no imports would be prevented.

This is another shock in recent Qualcomm losses. Soon, US justice will also judge the alleged anticompetitive practices of the company that Apple has accused so much; If the result is negative again for the manufacturer, we may see an end to this whole story soon. Or no.

via MacRumors, 9to5Mac