(Reuters) - Qualcomm Inc on Tuesday asked a federal judge not to enforce her decision that it illegally squeezed out rivals in the smartphone chips market as it plans to file an appeal that could take more than a year to wind through the courts.
In a filing in federal court in San Jose, California, Qualcomm said that it believes it can succeed in appealing the May 21 decision by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in an antitrust case brought by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in January 2017. The company has not yet filed that appeal; Tuesday’s filing only concerns whether the ruling’s provisions will be put on hold temporarily as it plays out.
Qualcomm argued that Koh’s ruling raised “serious legal questions” because, among other things, she excluded evidence after a March 2018 cutoff date - including the fact that Apple Inc dropped Qualcomm in favor of rival chip supplier Intel Corp, showing that Qualcomm did not have a stranglehold on the market. Qualcomm also said that the FTC’s theory in the lawsuit - that Qualcomm’s patent licensing practices amounted to a “tax” on smart phone makers, generating profits that Qualcomm then put to work undercutting its rivals - was unprecedented in antitrust law.
Qualcomm said Koh’s ruling would force it to rework its license deals and even offer deals to rival chip suppliers, scrambling its business in a way that would be impossible to unwind if it wins on appeal. Qualcomm shares shot up 23% in April when it resolved a legal conflict with Apple but then
