9th Circuit Panel Sides With Qualcomm in Chip Monopoly Case Against FTC

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday sided with Qualcomm in an FTC antitrust lawsuit against the company. In the minutes after the ruling, the company's stock rose.

Judge Consuelo Callahan issued an opinion (in Pacer) vacating U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh’s judgment that Qualcomm engaged in monopolistic pricing. Callahan’s opinion reversed the district court’s “permanent, worldwide injunction prohibiting several” of Qualcomm’s IP licensing practices. The FTC alleged a mobile chip monopoly in its lawsuit against Qualcomm.

The FTC didn’t offer evidence that Qualcomm “engaged in predatory pricing,” the opinion said. The three-judge panel included Johnnie Rawlinson and Stephen Murphy. The 9th Circuit agreed with Qualcomm that the company engaged in “garden-variety price competition that the law encourages.” The district court faulted Qualcomm for “lowering its prices only when other companies introduced CDMA modem chips to the market to effectively compete,” the opinion said.

“The court’s ruling is disappointing,” said FTC Competition Bureau Director Ian Conner in a statement. “We will be considering our options.” The company didn’t immediately comment. Qualcomm rose 4.5% to $111.14 at 12:49 p.m. EDT.