Geoffrey Manne on Qualcomm’s Potential Arguments in Appeal to Judge Koh’s Decision

ICLE President & Founder Geoffrey Manne says that Qualcomm may have strong arguments to win on appeal to the FTC’s decision.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California said that Qualcomm’s licensing practices had strangled competition in parts of the computer chip market, harming rivals, smartphone makers, and consumers. She ordered the San Diego-based company to renegotiate licensing agreements at reasonable prices, without threatening to cut off supplies, and ordered that it be monitored for seven years to ensure its compliance.

The Qualcomm case has been controversial since it began in the final days of Democratic President Barack Obama’s administration, with the lone Republican FTC commissioner at the time saying it should not be brought.

The op-ed by Wilson, one of five FTC commissioners, will not have any legal weight as Qualcomm appeals Koh’s decision but foreshadows strong arguments the company has to win on appeal, Geoffrey Manne, director of the International Center for Law and Economics, and several other antitrust lawyers said.

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