South Korea’s Supreme Court partially ruled in favor of the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) in its longstanding legal fight with US chipmaker Qualcomm over fines for unfair practices to cement its monopolistic position.
The Supreme Court announced Monday, February 11, that Qualcomm should pay at least 200 billion won (US$178.4 million) in penalty out of total 273.2 billion won (US$242.9 million) slapped by the KFTC as it concluded the KFTC’s action was legitimate.
The Supreme Court, however, sent the case back to the lower Seoul High Court for reconsideration on the fine. It judged that some part of the penalty related to rebates paid by Qualcomm to LG on condition to use its radio frequency (RF) chips should be canceled because it found the practice didn’t have a significant damage on market competition as argued by the KFTC.
Qualcomm has not made an announcement regarding the latest court’s ruling, with a spokesperson of the Korean office saying that there is “nothing to say at the moment.”
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