Qualcomm was dealt a blow by a US Federal court. The latter issued a mandate to the semiconductor maker to license out its modem chip patents to rival chipmakers.
The court’s order stems from a lawsuit that was filed against the company back at the beginning of 2017. The court had ruled that if Qualcomm had been allowed to keep the corresponding patents to itself, the company would’ve achieved a monopoly in the modem chip market. Thus limiting the “competing implementations of those components”.
It should be noted that the primary point of the lawsuit isn’t being ruled on with this decision. That point being if Qualcomm had used anti-competitive practices to maintain a monopoly over modem chips for smartphones.
In light of the court’s decision, Qualcomm agreed that it would offer select patents on a non-discriminatory basis. According to The Verge, the patents offered were crucial to the current global wireless standards, and that they were only accepted into the standards because of Qualcomm’s agreement to license to everyone.
Opening up the patent is also a source of good news to companies like Apple and Samsung. Both of which have had to rely on Qualcomm’s modem chips whenever they manufactured their phones.
(Source: The Verge)
