US: FTC told to handover docs to Qualcomm in Antitrust suit

America’s trade watchdog has been ordered to provide copies of the letters that led to its antitrust probe into California chip designer Qualcomm.

In a San Jose district court ruling on Thursday, August 24, Judge Lucy Koh told the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that it must give the Snapdragon giant copies of the “dual submission” documents in question – some of them from foreign governments and some from anonymous informants – as part of the discovery process in the case.

Both sets of documents were used by the FTC in deciding to bring its competition lawsuit earlier this year against Qualcomm. The trade commission has accused Qualcomm of using its dominant position in the mobile chips market to force customers such as Apple into signing favorable patent licensing deals for technology that, allegedly, they don’t use.

The commission had argued that, for the foreign documents, it has the right not to disclose evidence that could undermine US state affairs, and for the informant documents it has a duty to protect its informants from retaliation by Qualcomm.

Koh, however, disagreed, reasoning that neither of the claims stood up under closer examination.

Full Content: Law 360

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