Qualcomm : JFTC Revokes Order, Finds Qualcomm Licensing Program Lawful

SAN DIEGO - March 14, 2019 - The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) has reversed a 2009 cease-and-desist order affecting Qualcomm licensing in Japan. Following a nine-year evidentiary proceeding, the JFTC concluded that Qualcomm's cross-licensing provisions and non-assertion covenants that were the subject of the cease-and-desist order did not violate Japanese antimonopoly law.

In 2010, the Tokyo High Court had issued a stay of the JFTC cease-and-desist order pending this proceeding. This week's JFTC decision, the result of a process that included 37 separate hearings, rejected an initial finding related to cross-license agreements between Qualcomm and Japanese manufacturers.
'We are very gratified to learn that after years of considering the evidence and applicable legal authority, the Japan Fair Trade Commission has concluded there was nothing improper about Qualcomm's cross-licensing program,' said Don Rosenberg, general counsel and executive vice president of Qualcomm. 'Today's decision affirms our confidence that once Qualcomm was afforded a full hearing, and actual evidence was considered, the JFTC would find that our cross-licensing program was completely lawful and the product of arms-length, good-faith negotiations with our Japanese licensees. The JFTC is now the second antitrust agency after the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission to have revoked its ruling against Qualcomm.'