Intel has long been one of the world’s leading technology innovators. Over the past decade, Intel has invested billions in developing next-generation technologies that will improve the performance and functionality of modern smartphones and cellular communications. Intel is ready, willing, and able to compete on the merits in this market that Qualcomm has dominated for years. But Qualcomm has maintained an interlocking web of abusive patent and commercial practices that subverts competition on the merits. These practices have illegally coerced mobile phone manufacturers into purchasing the chipsets they need from Qualcomm and Qualcomm alone.The FTC recently filed a detailed complaint in the Northern District of California documenting how Qualcomm’s practices have inflicted precisely the harms that the antitrust laws seek to protect against: harm to the competitive process, to consumer welfare, and to innovation and progress.
Today, Intel filed an Amicus Brief in opposition to Qualcomm’s motion to dismiss the FTC’s complaint. Because the FTC’s attempt to shed light on Qualcomm’s anticompetitive practices is of great importance to the industry as a whole, several other companies and trade associations also have filed briefs supporting the FTC. Intel’s brief, in particular, illuminates the adverse impact that Qualcomm’s conduct is having on competition and innovation, and explains how that conduct violates the antitrust laws in several different ways.