The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said on Thursday it had reduced the fine it imposed on US chipmaker Qualcomm a decade ago by 18% to $200 million.
The decision to reduce the fine comes after South Korea's Supreme Court in January overturned one of several lower court rulings that Qualcomm had abused its dominant market position in the country.
In 2009, the KFTC fined Qualcomm 273 billion won ($242,6 million) for abusing its market dominance in modems and CDMA chips used by South Korean companies Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics in their phones.
A January ruling by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Korea upheld most of the decisions of lower courts, but at the same time provided the possibility of appealing the decision to impose a fine of 73 billion won. The KFTC changed its penalty to reflect the Supreme Court's decision, but warned that "a monopoly entity's abuse of its market position will not be tolerated."
The decision does not apply to the KFTC's ruling, which fined Qualcomm $2016 million in 853 for misusing its market dominance through unfair business practices in patent licensing and the sale of modem chips.
Source: 3dnews.ru