China Fines Qualcomm $975 Million for Anti-trust Violations

[ShintaiDK]

It had to happen with their methods.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8966/china-fines-qualcomm-975-million-for-antitrust-violations

At the crux of the matter has been Qualcomm’s patent licensing program in China, portions of which the NDRC has asserted violate Chinese law. As Qualcomm owns a number of standards-essential 3G and 4G patents, Chinese firms must in turn license these patents for their phones and cellular-enabled tablets. To that end, Qualcomm’s bundling of various patents has been under extreme scrutiny, particularly the bundling of other patents with the standards-essential 3G and 4G patents, a process that would force Chinese manufacturers into paying more to license additional patents they did not need.

I am sure other countries will follow suit.

 

[NTMBK]

So they're enforcing FRAND standards? Good. Hopefully this means cheaper chips from Qualcomm's competitors (which is what China wants, of course).