SEOUL—A South Korean regulator said it would fine Qualcomm Inc. about $853 million for alleged antitrust violations, the highest such penalty handed to an individual company here, as the U.S. chip maker faces global scrutiny over its patent-licensing business. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) ruled on Wednesday Qualcomm abused its dominant market position and forced handset makers to pay royalties for an unnecessarily broad set of patents as part of sales of its modem chips. This decision ignores that win-win relationship.”

He continued: “Qualcomm’s repeated requests during the KFTC’s investigation for basic due process rights such as access to the case files and the right to cross examine witnesses were denied. In a response to the KFTC’s ruling, Qualcomm has released their own statement, stating that they disagree with KFTC’s ruling on the grounds that it violates international trade agreements, that no harm has been done to the market, and that the KFTC did not question Qualcomm’s licensing model in their previous CDMA investigation.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission fines U.S. company Qualcomm $852.9 million for alleged antitrust violations for restricting access of its competitors to its patents.