There are numerous legal battles going on between OEMs and many of these court cases last for years. Reports coming out of South Korea shows that LG Electronics has joined the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) against US chipmaker Qualcomm. The value of this case is up to 1.03 trillion won ($915 million).
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In 2016, due to the abuse of patents by Qualcomm, FTC imposed a fine of 1.03 trillion won ($915 million) on the American chipmaker. However, Qualcomm did not accept the fine and filed an administrative lawsuit. Samsung Electronics, Apple, Intel, MediaTek, and Huawei joined the FTC camp as affiliates. Earlier this year, Samsung Electronics and Qualcomm reached a patent cross-licensing agreement which prompted Samsung to withdraw from the lawsuit.
Samsung’s withdrawal weakened FTC’s position in the lawsuit, but LG Electronics current inclusion in the alliance is expected to strengthen its countervailing power in litigation. Industry observers said that LG Electronics has decided to participate in legal proceedings against Qualcomm because the company’s negotiations with US chipmakers are not going well. So far, since October last year, FTC and Qualcomm have held 11 hearings and inquiries. It will take a few years for the court to make a final decision.
