We are pleased that the Ninth Circuit granted our request and believe the District Court decision will be overturned once the merits of our appeal have been considered. The stay, which remains in effect through the course of the appeals process, keeps intact Qualcomm’s patent-licensing practices. This will allow Qualcomm to continue to invest in inventing the fundamental technologies at the heart of mobile communications at this critical time of transition to 5G. The District Court’s decision turns U.S. antitrust law on its head and mischaracterizes Qualcomm’s licensing business, which has dramatically contributed to the technological foundation of mobile communications and enhanced competition and consumer welfare.
Qualcomm welcomes Ninth Circuit stay ruling in FTC Case and files opening brief in our appeal
Qualcomm is the world’s leading wireless technology innovator and the driving force behind the development, launch, and expansion of 5G. Our inclusive, flexible licensing and mobile technology transfer program ensures rapid technology advancement and competition across the ecosystem. Through standards development and our broad licensing program, we make our breakthroughs available to licensees who use them to develop products.
Qualcomm’s licensing and technology transfer program, ecosystem partnerships, and services accelerate the growth of the wireless industry, reduce barriers to entry, encourage competition, level the playing field, and ultimately make the benefits of mobile technology available to more people, more efficiently, and across socio-economic classes.
Qualcomm uses its one-of-a-kind expertise to tackle systems-level engineering problems that can take a decade or more to solve. We achieved this by investing more than $60 billion in research and development since our founding, and over the last decade we have committed approximately 20 percent of our annual revenues to R&D efforts. That commitment has enabled us to invent many of the foundational technologies at the heart of 3G, 4G, and now 5G wireless products and networks.
We don’t keep our inventions – covered by over 140,000 patents and patent applications – to ourselves. We share them in a variety of ways, including through a chip-agnostic licensing program that allows our customers and licensees to build upon our technologies and create amazing products, including smartphones and the growing number of connected devices.
Does our technology transfer program work? In a word, yes. Mobile has not only become the world’s largest technology platform, it has achieved that scale faster than any technology in human history. Today, Qualcomm has hundreds of agreements, and more than 13 billion licensed mobile devices have shipped worldwide. Thanks to the Qualcomm team and collaboration within the entire mobile industry, the next generation of wireless, 5G, debuted a year ahead of schedule. Those numbers and the ever-growing mobile ecosystem support our unwavering belief in the effectiveness of our program to enable competition, both beget and transform industries, and enrich lives everywhere.
We welcome the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to stay, pending appeal, the injunction ordered by the District Court. We have filed our opening brief with the Ninth Circuit.
Read our responses
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Financial Times: US regulators face off in court tussle over Qualcomm
February 9, 2020
Amicus Brief Filed by the U.S. Department of Justice in Support of Qualcomm
August 30, 2019
Amicus Brief Filed by Cause of Action Institute in Support of Qualcomm
August 30, 2019
Amicus Brief Filed by Dolby Laboratories, Inc. in Support of Neither Party
August 30, 2019
Amicus Brief Filed by Antitrust and Patent Law Professors, Economists, and Scholars in Support of Qualcomm and Reversal
August 30, 2019
Amicus Brief Filed by Paul Michel in Support of Qualcomm
August 30, 2019
Amicus Brief Filed by Interdigital, Inc. in Support of Neither Party
August 30, 2019
Amicus Brief Filed by the Alliance of U.S. Startups & Investors for Jobs (USIJ) in Support of Qualcomm
August 30, 2019
Unopposed Motion of Nokia Filed as Amicus Brief in Support of Neither Party
August 30, 2019
Opening Brief for Appellant Qualcomm Incorporated
August 23, 2019
Order Granting Partial Stay of Injunction Pending Appeal
August 23, 2019
Reply in Support of Motion for Partial Stay of Injunction Pending Appeal
July 25, 2019
United States’ Statement of Interest Concerning Qualcomm’s Motion for Partial Stay of Injunction Pending Appeal
Also includes
Declaration of Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen M. Lord
Declaration of Department of Energy Chief Information Officer Max Everett
July 16, 2019
Amicus Brief filed by Judge Paul Michel in Support of Qualcomm’s Motion for a Partial Stay
July 15, 2019
Amicus Brief filed by Ericsson in Support of Qualcomm’s Motion for a Partial Stay
July 15, 2019
Order Granting Motion to Expedite Appeal
July 10, 2019
Consent Motion to Expedite Appeal
July 8, 2019
Motion for Partial Stay of Injunction Pending Appeal
July 8, 2019
United States District Court – Northern District of California, San Jose Division
Reply in Support of Motion for Stay
June 18, 2019
“A Court’s Dangerous Antitrust Overreach” – Wall Street Journal Opinion by FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson
May 28, 2019
Motion for Stay Pending Appeal
May 28, 2019
Dissenting Statement of Commissioner Maureen K. Ohlhausen regarding the FTC filing a case against Qualcomm
Jan 17, 2019
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