Yesterday, Judge Koh of the U.S. District Court Northern District of California entered a Judgment following the January 2019 trial based on her Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law that Qualcomm violated the Federal Trade Commission Act. This is a lengthy, 233 page decision and we will provide a summary soon, but provide now a link to the decision given its importance to 5G and other technologies involving standard essential patents (SEPs). The next step is that Qualcomm, potentially the Federal Trade Commission (FTC ) (which did not get all the remedies it sought) and amicus such as the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), may file post-judgment briefing in the district court seeking to alter the decision.
Below is a list of Judge Koh’s summary of the injunctive relief that she will enter (if not altered after post-judgment briefing):
- Qualcomm must not condition the supply of modem chips on a customer’s patent license status and Qualcomm must negotiate or renegotiate license terms with customers in good faith under conditions free from the threat of lack of access to or discriminatory provision of modem chip supply or associated technical support or access to software.
- Qualcomm must make exhaustive SEP licenses available to modem-chip suppliers on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (“FRAND”) terms and to submit, as necessary, to arbitral or judicial dispute resolution to determine such terms.
- Qualcomm may not enter express or de facto exclusive dealing agreements for the supply of modem chips.
- Qualcomm may not interfere with the ability of any customer to communicate with a government agency about a potential law enforcement or regulatory matter.
- In order to ensure Qualcomm’s compliance with the above remedies, the Court orders Qualcomm to submit to compliance and monitoring procedures for a period of seven (7) years. Specifically, Qualcomm shall report to the FTC on an annual basis Qualcomm’s compliance with the above remedies ordered by the Court.