Qualcomm Loses Bid to End Consumer Antitrust Case Over Chips (1)

Qualcomm Inc. must face consumer antitrust litigation over its exclusive chip licensing practices, despite an appeals court ruling rejecting a similar case brought by the Federal Trade Commission, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled.

Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley let part of the lawsuit move forward in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, where the chip manufacturer is locked in a years-long fight over its agreements with phone and tablet makers that have no choice but to license its “standard essential patents.”

Holders of such patents—which have been incorporated into industrywide standards underpinning modern communications infrastructure—are ...