Back in 2019, Qualcomm‘s policy of “no-license, no-chips” was deemed as anti competitive by a US judge. But now, the Ninth Circuit has overruled the verdict entirely, handing Qualcomm a huge win.

For those unaware, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) had argued that the chipmaker was pushing out competitors within the field by adding a tax whenever OEMs bought chips from rival companies. This forced companies to pay royalties for Qualcomm’s standards-essential patents, even if they weren’t using the company’s products. In other words, it essentially made the products of the rival companies more expensive than the chip and patents bundle Qualcomm was offering.

Editor’s Pick: Huawei surpassed Apple in the Global smartphone market for the first time in 2019: Survey

The antitrust lawsuit faced by Qualcomm has had it face anti competitive charges in multiple countries. This includes $975 million to China, $854 million to South Korea and $1.2 billion to the European Union. The company had also settled a lawsuit by paying a fine of $774 million in Taiwan back in 2018. At the moment, it is still possible that Qualcomm can be charged for violating the concept of fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing terms.

These terms are in place to keep companies from unfairly exploiting patents and provide every company a fair chance. However, Judge Callahan has suggested that this matter is for a different court. Unless the matter reaches the Supreme Court, Qualcomm would basically be granted the green light for its alleged anti competitive practices. Furthermore, it might even be bolder from here on out. According to FTC’s Bureau of Competition, “The court’s ruling is disappointing and we will be considering our options.”

UP NEXT: Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra vs Huawei P40 Pro+: Specs Comparison

The post Qualcomm wins in US Court, ‘no-license, no-chips’ antitrust ruling overturned appeared first on Gizmochina.

The lingering dispute between Meizu and Qualcomm which had led to Meizu smartphones not featuring Qualcomm SoCs may have finally been put to rest. Qualcomm today announced that it has signed a patent license agreement with Meizu which grants Meizu the worldwide license to develop, manufacture and sell smartphones with CDMA2000, WCDMA, 4G LTE (including “triple mode”GSM / TD-SCDMA / LTE-TDD) terminals.

Qualcomm recently signed the same agreement days back with fellow Chinese company Gionee and earlier in August, the company put pen to paper with Vivo under similar terms. Under this term, Meizu will pay royalties to Qualcomm for use of these bands on their smartphones.

The new agreement, according to Qualcomm’s statement, addresses all patent disputes between Qualcomm and Meizu in China, Germany, France and the United States. It would be recalled that Qualcomm had dragged Meizu to court in Europe and the US over patent infringement, but both parties have agreed to take appropriate steps to terminate or withdraw the patent infringement action and related patent invalidity or other related litigation.

Related: Meizu 2017 Product Lineup, SoC & Schedule Leaked, Snapdragon Chip Listed

Coincidentally, a leaked product lineup plan for Meizu in 2017 had included a Meizu M device said to get a December 2017 launch date and coming with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 626 chip onboard. Turns out the leaked document was indeed correct. In addition, Meizu has confirmed it would use Qualcomm processor at the end of 2017 but the company failed to mention the name or details of the smartphone that would pack the Qualcomm SoC. The year 2017 is sure looking to be a year of great surprises and expectations on the smartphone industry.

source

The post Meizu & Qualcomm Finally Settle Their Issues, Sign Patent Licensing Agreement appeared first on Gizmochina.