Tag: antitrust
Even Avanci’s Supporters Don’t Defend its Litigation Funding Scheme
In July 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division issued a business review letter (BRL) addressing Avanci LLC’s proposed pool pursuant to which it would “license patent claims th...
USPTO, DoJ, and NIST Issue FRAND/SEP Policy Statement
Last week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. Department of Justice, and National Institute of Standards and Technology issued a joint statement on standard-essential patents (SEPs). The...
Qualcomm’s Petard: Apple Acquires Modem Business From Intel
Yesterday, Apple officially announced its acquisition of Intel’s smartphone modem unit. Apple will receive a variety of assets from Intel, including patents, as well as a significant portion o...
EU Competition Authorities Fine Qualcomm While DoJ Says “No Problem”
Yesterday, EU Commissioner for Competition Margarete Vestager announced the Commission’s decision to fine Qualcomm for using pricing and contract terms to force a rival out of the market. This...
Apple, Qualcomm Settle—But That Doesn’t Mean The FTC Should
Apple and Qualcomm have reached a global settlement to the wide-ranging dispute between the two companies. Stretching from China to the UK to the US, in a range of forums in various countries, A...
Don’t Buy Into Qualcomm’s Attempts To Distract From Its Anti-Competitive Behavior
There’s been a lot of discussion about Qualcomm’s recent Chinese injunction against Apple. But that’s a distraction—the real story is, and remains, the trio of lawsuits against Qualcomm for ...
Delrahim Pulls DoJ Out Of FRAND-SEP Policy Guidance
In a speech today at the Berkeley Advanced Patent Law Institute, United States Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division Makan Delrahim announced that the Department of Justice was withdra...
CCIA, ACT File Amicus Brief In FTC v. Qualcomm
Yesterday, CCIA and ACT filed an amicus brief in the FTC’s case against Qualcomm in the Northern District of California. As explained in the brief, the FRAND obligation which patent owners volunta...
Qualcomm’s Anti-Competitive Conduct Could Be Exacerbated By Mergers
(Cross post on DisCo.)
Qualcomm’s been busy over the past few months. Defending against accusations of anti-competitive conduct from competition authorities in the US and elsewhere around the ...