Qualcomm must face shareholder class action over sales practices

The lawsuit filed in San Diego, California, alleges Qualcomm and its executives repeatedly described its businesses of selling chips and licencing its technology to other companies as separate, when in fact the company bundled them in a bid to stifle competition.

The investors leading the case claim the misrepresentations artificially inflated the price of Qualcomm shares between 2012 and 2017.

Qualcomm has called the allegations meritless.

US district judge Jinsook Ohta rejected Qualcomm’s argument that the sales practices were already publicly known.

Qualcomm’s responses to antitrust allegations by regulators revealed “far more detail” about the practices and the customers affected, she wrote.

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The class covers investors who bought Qualcomm common stock between Feb. 1, 2012 and Jan. 20, 2017 and incurred losses. Qualcomm paid the Korea Fair Trade Commission 1.03 trillion won ($912.34 million) in 2017 for what the regulator called unfair business practices in licensing and chip sales.

The San Diego-based company also faces a consumer lawsuit in California alleging its practices violated state law.

2017 case with Apple

In May 2017, chipmaker Qualcomm Inc escalated its patent battle with Apple Inc, suing Foxconn and three other Taiwanese manufacturers that supply iPhone and iPad components for not paying royalties.

Apple filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm in January 2017 accusing it of overcharging for chips and refusing to pay some $1 billion in rebates – a move that came days after the US government accused the chipmaker of using anticompetitive tactics to maintain a monopoly over key semiconductors in mobile phones.

Qualcomm called Apple’s suit baseless and has said the iPhone maker was encouraging regulatory attacks on its business.

Qualcomm said in its complaint that Apple had advised the four contract manufacturers to withhold royalty payments and agreed to indemnify them against any damages resulting from the breach of their agreements with Qualcomm.