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On Dec. 4, 2019, the Seoul High Court (Judicial administrative court 7) dismissed the appeal filed by Qualcomm Incorporated and its two affiliated companies (collectively, “Qualcomm”) in favor of the KFTC. In December 2016, the KFTC had imposed remedies, along with surcharges amounting to KRW 1.03 trillion against Qualcomm for abusing its market dominance.

Qualcomm is the holder of standard essential patents (“SEP”) necessary in manufacturing and selling chipsets. Qualcomm interfered with the rival modem chipset makers’ business activities by restricting the licensing of the SEP to other chipset makers. Moreover, in granting a comprehensive license to mobile phone companies, it imposed unfavorable conditions such as forcing licensing terms that had been unilaterally decided and requesting the mobile phone companies to grant licenses they hold to Qualcomm free of charge.

The court judged that the KFTC’s decision to levy surcharges on Qualcomm was made on justifiable grounds while only a part of its decision on Qualcomm’s practice of comprehensive portfolio licensing was found unlawful.

In objection to the KFTC’s enforcement measures, Qualcomm filed an appeal to the Seoul High Court for cancellation of the KFTC’s decision and requested a suspension of execution. The request for suspension was rejected by the Supreme Court in November 2017, and the litigation on the substantive merits was rejected for the most part by the Seoul High Court.