South Korea court upholds $873-million antitrust penalty for Qualcomm

A South Korean court on Wednesday upheld a record fine of $873 million for U.S. chip giant Qualcomm , imposed by the Asian nation’s antitrust watchdog in 2016 over unfair business practices. Seoul High Court’s presiding judge Noh Tae-ak said in a ruling that Qualcomm abused its dominant market position, as a reason for upholding the regulator’s penalty. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) levied the fine, a record for South Korea, on Qualcomm in 2016, for what it called unfair business practices in patent licensing and modem chip sales.