Takeaways From the Recent Qualcomm Decision

Partners Karen Hoffman Lent and Kenneth Schwartz review a California federal court's sweeping injunction requiring cell-phone chipmaker Qualcomm to renegotiate its licenses and alter its policy requiring cellphone manufacturers to license its patents in order to access its modem chips. The DOJ’s intervention in the case — urging the court to hold a hearing on issues relating to a remedy should the court find Qualcomm violated anti-trust laws — exposed tensions between the DOJ and FTC, and within the FTC itself.