U.S. antitrust agency sues Qualcomm over patent licensing

Reuters

Published Jan 17, 2017 04:08PM ET

U.S. antitrust agency sues Qualcomm over patent licensing

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Inc on Tuesday, accusing the company of antitrust violations in its patent licensing business.

The FTC, which works with the Justice Department to enforce antitrust law, said that Qualcomm used its dominance in supplying baseband processors used in smartphones and tablets to extract elevated royalties for patents in what the complaint dubbed a "no license-no chips" policy.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose.