On August 11, 2020, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a decision of Judge Koh sitting in the Northern District of California that certain of Qualcomm’s business practices relating to its standards essential patents (SEPs) breached the antitrust laws. The case had already attained some notoriety for the fact that although the lawsuit had been brought by the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the United States Department of Justice had participated in the appeal as an amicus curiae supporting Qualcomm.
The main thrust of the Appeals Court’s decision was that the FTC had failed to show damage to competition in the relevant market as is required to establish “antitrust injury” of the type the antitrust laws are designed to prevent.
To read more, please see the article by John Richards available in the Education Center.