Qualcomm asks the court of appeal to suspend the impact of the antitrust decision

(Reuters) – Qualcomm Inc. on Monday urged a US court of appeal to suspend an antitrust decision that could radically alter its business model while attempting to reverse this decision.

The complaint was filed in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals after US District Judge Lucy Koh refused last week to suspend her decision in a case brought by the US Federal Trade Commission against the company. of San Diego, the leading provider of modems. chips that connect smartphones to wireless data networks.

Koh felt that Qualcomm had engaged in anti-competitive patent licensing practices in order to maintain a monopoly in the mobile chip market. Koh has ordered Qualcomm to license its technology to competing chip makers, including companies such as MediaTek Inc. of Taiwan. Qualcomm has beaten the decision to be suspended pending appeal, which could take more than a year.

California-based San Diego has argued that leaving the decision to power could stop talks with chip makers about 5G, the next generation of wireless data networks.

"Qualcomm will not be able to revert to its current license agreements, cancel this network of new agreements, cancel the exhaustion of its patent rights or recover any lost income or "The transaction costs incurred" he eventually wins, but the judgment remains in effect during the process, the company writes.

Qualcomm also challenged Koh's decision that Qualcomm's patent fees were "incremental" for other chip suppliers, increasing their prices and making them less able to compete with Qualcomm. Qualcomm charges phone manufacturers the patent fees, whether or not they buy Qualcomm chips, because patents cover fundamental aspects of cellular technology that go beyond its own modems.

Koh decided that the phone manufacturers probably take into account the total cost of all license fees and chips, which makes the whole of Qualcomm cheaper than its competitors, in violation of the laws on competition. Qualcomm rejected this theory in its Monday filing.

"Moreover, there is no reason for (smartphone) builders to consider the royalties they pay to Qualcomm as being due to the prices that builders pay for their rivals' chips – nor do they are attributable to the price paid by manufacturers for other components such as batteries or screens, "writes the company in its filing.