US: Samsung and Intel join FTC’s antitrust lawsuit against Qualcomm

Qualcomm continues to have a rough start to the first half of the year after being sued by Apple and the United States Federal Trade Commission in separate lawsuits over anti-competitive practices. On Friday, Samsung and Intel both filed briefs backing the FTC in its case against Qualcomm, claiming they have been “harmed” by the misconduct.

Although Samsung develops its own chips that compete with Qualcomm’s, it uses its competitor’s chips in its smartphones — such as the Snapdragon 835 processor in the Galaxy S8. “Despite having requested a license from Qualcomm, Samsung cannot sell licensed Exynos chipsets to non-Samsung entities because Qualcomm has refused to license Samsung to make and sell licensed chipsets,” Samsung said in its brief, calling Qualcomm’s actions “exclusionary.”

Intel, on the other hand, claims in its filing that Qualcomm’s practices have “inflicted and continues to inflict precisely the harms that the antitrust laws seek to protect against,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

“Qualcomm has maintained an interlocking web of abusive patent and commercial practices that subverts competition on the merits. These practices have illegally coerced mobile phone manufacturers into purchasing the chipsets they need from Qualcomm and Qualcomm alone,” Intel wrote.

While Qualcomm has not commented on Samsung and Intel’s briefings, it did warn investors in its most recent earnings report that growing legal challenges may affect its financial outlook. Qualcomm’s motion to dismiss the FTC suit is slated for June, and will be heard in a federal court in the Northern District of California.

Full Content: Wall Street Journal

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