For Your Information
FTC Requests Rehearing En Banc of Qualcomm Appeals Panel Decision
The Federal Trade Commission today filed a petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit requesting rehearing en banc of the August 11, 2020, decision of a panel of that court in the matter of FTC v. Qualcomm Incorporated.
In a complaint filed on Jan. 17, 2017, the FTC charged Qualcomm with using anticompetitive tactics to maintain monopolies in markets for the supply of modem chips, components that facilitate cellular communications in cellphones and other consumer products. On May 21, 2019, Judge Lucy H. Koh of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled in favor of the FTC, finding that the company violated U.S. antitrust law. On August 11, 2020, that decision was reversed by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
The Commission vote authorizing staff to file the petition was 3-2, with Commissioner Noah Joshua Phillips and Christine S. Wilson voting no.
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