Samsung allegedly influenced the KFTC ruling that Qualcomm or overturned antitrust fines?

“This wrong decision is a product of an unfair ruling process. We believe that the ruling has been seriously affected by commercial interests,” said Don Rosenberg, general counsel of Qualcomm, “a recent report said that South Korea’s special inspection The official is investigating the relationship between Samsung and the former vice chairman of KFTC, which has exacerbated our concerns because the vice chairman is responsible for handling Qualcomm's antitrust case."

According to foreign media reports, South Korean prosecutors have been investigating Samsung’s influence on the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) and summoned Kim Hak-hyun, who had been the vice chairman of KFTC since January this year.

Qualcomm stressed that Kim Hak-hyun signed a record 1.03 trillion won (approximately US$898 million) anti-monopoly fine for Qualcomm in December last year. Samsung is a major customer of Qualcomm, and KFTC's ruling may allow Samsung to benefit greatly because Samsung can reduce royalties paid to Qualcomm. Samsung denied that it did not obtain any benefits from the KFTC.

KFTC spokesperson Shin Yeong-ho stated that Qualcomm’s fine was not related to the recent Korean political scandal. Qualcomm was fined for violating Korea’s anti-monopoly law. Kim Hak-hyun has not yet been invited to comment.

Previous anti-monopoly fines against Qualcomm threatened Qualcomm’s most lucrative patent licensing business. Most of Qualcomm's revenue comes from the patent licensing business, and the company's technology is crucial to all modern mobile phone systems. As the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer, Samsung is one of Qualcomm’s largest royalties. In addition to fines, KFTC also required Qualcomm to make adjustments to its licensing methods.