Qualcomm and Taiwan Fair Trade Commission finally reach settlement

Qualcomm today announced that it has reached a mutually agreed settlement with the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission (TFTC) in resolving the TFTC’s investigation and its litigation challenging the TFTC’s decision alleging violations of Taiwan’s Fair Trade Act. Thanks to this mutually agreed settlement, the complete TFTC decision is replaced by the settlement terms and the decision shall be deemed revoked and Qualcomm litigation filed in the Taiwan Intellectual Property Court is closed. As a part of this resolution, Qualcomm has agreed to certain process-related commitments with handset licensees to Qualcomm’s cellular standard-essential patents (SEPs). As part of the settlement, the parties agreed that the NTD 2.73 billion (approximately $93 million USD) Qualcomm paid towards the monetary fine will be retained by the TFTC and no other amounts will be due. Additionally, Qualcomm will drive certain commercial initiatives in Taiwan over the next five years for the benefit of the mobile and semiconductor ecosystem, SMEs and consumers, including 5G collaborations, new market expansion, start-up and university collaborations and the development of a Taiwanese center for operations and manufacturing engineering. The company will work with the TFTC and sister agencies within the Taiwanese government to implement these initiatives and investments. Alex Rogers, executive vice president and president, Qualcomm Technology Licensing said: We are ...