Ford, Honda Want FTC To Seek Rehearing In Qualcomm Ruling

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been urged to seek an en banc rehearing of its unsuccessful antitrust case against Qualcomm in a letter signed by a group of companies and trade organisations, including Ford Motor and Honda Motor.

Earlier this month, a US appeals court reversed a lower-court decision against Qualcomm, which makes technology for connecting devices to mobile data networks. The court also vacated an injunction that would have required Qualcomm to change its patent licensing practices.

Qualcomm was fighting a May 2019 decision by US District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, in a case brought by the FTC. Koh sided with the FTC, writing that Qualcomm’s practice of requiring phone makers to sign a patent license agreement before selling them chips “strangled competition” and harmed consumers.

Automakers have increasingly put chips in vehicles to connect them to the internet, which requires them to sign patent agreements for communications standards such as 5G. The companies had previously argued that connected car prices could go up if Qualcomm won its case.

Full Content: New York Times

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