South Korea may fine Qualcomm up to $880 million

The Fair Trade Commission in South Korea is investigating Qualcomm for unfair market competition practices and may fine the chip maker up to 1 trillion Korean Won or $880 million.

The FTC put Qualcomm under investigation 17 months ago for anti-competitive licensing and its final verdict will come out on July 20.

Apparently, Qualcomm misused its patents licensing and charged Korean manufacturers Samsung and LG unfair prices. Here is a quote from an FTC rep:

Qualcomm has been collecting royalty fees from mobile phone manufacturers based on certain fixed rates from the suggested price of a mobile device… Qualcomm should have sought royalty fees based on each chipset.

Qualcomm are suspected of charging patent fees based on the product's price instead of a fixed price for a specific patent. If proven true, Qualcomm may have unfairly overcharged Korean manufacturers by KRW 1 trillion, which is about $879 million.

And while we are waiting for the verdict, there is a good chance Qualcomm be fined by July 20. Last year the chip maker settled for a fine of $1 billion by the Chinese authorities for the very same thing and is currently under investigation by the EU Commission.

Source 1 • Source 2 • Source 3