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South Korean watchdog cuts Qualcomm fine

by on21 March 2019


Only $200 million now

South Korea’s antitrust regulator has lowered a decade-old penalty imposed on US chipmaker Qualcomm by 18 percent to $200 million.

The reduction comes after the Supreme Court overturned in January one of several lower court rulings against the company for abusing its dominant market position.

In 2009, the KFTC fined Qualcomm $242.6 million for abusing its market power in CDMA modem and radio frequency chips, which were then used in handsets made by South Korea’s Samsung and LG .

The KFTC said it had reset the penalty to reflect the Supreme Court’s ruling, adding however that a “monopolist enterprise’s abuse of its market position cannot be tolerated”.

The fine is the latest in a series of antitrust rulings and investigations faced by Qualcomm from regulators across the globe.

In a separate case, the South Korean regulator fined Qualcomm $854 million in 2016 for what it called unfair business practices in patent licensing and modem chip sales.

Qualcomm declined to comment.

Last modified on 21 March 2019
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