Qualcomm faces daily fine as legacy of Icera dispute
The case dates back to a complaint in 2009 that Qualcomm used predatory pricing for 3G chipsets to keep UK startup Icera out of the market and as to whether Qualcomm offered financial incentives to customers on condition that they buy baseband chipsets exclusively or almost exclusively from Qualcomm.
Icera was acquired by Nvidia in 2011 (see Nvidia agrees to pay $367 million for Icera).
Qualcomm had appealed against being compelled to provide the information on the grounds of expense but the appeal was refused in the General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg on Monday, July 12.
According to a Bloomberg report Qualcomm said it had not supplied the information because it was a lot of work that would involve 50 employees and 16 external advisors and going through 120 boxes stored off site and could cost more than €3 million
The fines will see the sum of €3 million will be exceeded in just six days.
The fine for not supplying information is separate from the penalty regulators could impose if they find Qualcomm deliberately sold chipsets for internet dongles at below-cost from 2009 to 2011 to exclude Icera from the market. The European Union is also probing whether Qualcomm unfairly paid Apple to only use Qualcomm chipsets in its products.
Qualcomm could be fined as much as 10 percent of global turnover in each case, if it is found guilty of breaking EU law.
Related links and articles:
News articles:
Qualcomm’s sales practices are under scrutiny from EC
Nvidia agrees to pay $367 million for Icera
EU panel to review fining Google over Android
EU starts investigation on Qualcomm’s NXP takeover
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