Qualcomm must license technology to rivals

(Reuters) – A US Federal Judge ruled on Tuesday that Qualcomm Inc. chip sellerQCOM.O) must license part of its technology to competitors such as Intel Corp. (INTC.O).

The preliminary ruling was made in the context of an antitrust lawsuit filed against Qualcomm by the US Federal Trade Commission in early 2017. The lawsuit should be the subject of A trial next year.

Judge Lucy Koh's preliminary ruling in the US District Court in Northern California indicated that Qualcomm had to license certain patents related to the manufacture of modem chips, which allow smartphones to connect to data networks. wireless, competing.

Qualcomm and the FTC jointly asked Koh last month to delay the decision on the issue for up to 30 days, the time to continue negotiations for a settlement.

Koh rejected this request on Tuesday.

It was not clear at the outset whether this decision would affect settlement negotiations. Qualcomm shares lost about 0.3% to $ 63.26 after the news.

Qualcomm did not immediately return a request for comment. The FTC and Intel declined to comment.

Settling with US regulators would be a turning point for San Diego's chip chip company, which is defending its business model in the face of lawsuits from large customers such as Apple Inc. (AAPL.O) and Huawei Technologies Inc., as well as to meet the regulatory challenges of its practices around the world.

Civil litigation and settlement litigation deals with whether Qualcomm's patent licensing practices, when combined with those of bullets, constitute anti-competitive behavior. The South Korean and Taiwanese regulators initially ruled against Qualcomm, which appealed against these decisions and settled some of them.

In August, Qualcomm settled $ 93 million with Taiwan's regulators and an agreement to invest $ 700 million in the country over the next five years.