Continental AG, which makes control units for Daimler AG cars, cannot pursue antitrust claims against a group of patent owners, including Qualcomm Inc, which are seeking royalties on telecommunications technology, a federal judge in Texas ruled.
Avanci LLC, a licensing pool formed by Qualcomm, Nokia Oyj, Sharp Corp and other owners of patents on technology standards, is not breaching antitrust laws when it negotiates license agreements with automakers rather than the component makers, Barbara Lynn, chief district judge for the Northern District of Texas, said in dismissing the suit in a decision posted on Friday.
The licensing group charges US$15 per vehicle for the use of patented technology that is key to an industry standard for 4G telecommunications, and is developing a price for 5G, the next generation of wireless technology that promises to alter everything from driverless vehicles to robotic surgery.
Companies that develop standardized technology so electronics can work together to license any relevant patents on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, known as Frand. It is a phrase that has never been defined, although Continental said that Avanci’s licensing plan is neither fair nor reasonable.
Automakers traditionally have their component makers handle any patent licensing issues and indemnify the automaker from infringement suits.
Continental, which makes the telematics control units for Daimler vehicles, said that the US$15 charge would more than wipe out any profit it makes from the US$100 part it sells Daimler.
In dismissing the lawsuit, Lynn relied in part on a US appeals court decision that threw out an antitrust lawsuit the US Federal Trade Commission had lodged against Qualcomm over its licensing practices.
In that ruling, the court said that Qualcomm was within its rights to demand royalties from the end product rather than a component part.
“A patent owner may use price discrimination to maximize the patent’s value without violating antitrust law,” Lynn wrote.
Avanci’s request to dismiss the lawsuit was bolstered by the US Department of Justice’s antitrust division, which wrote to the judge in February to say that any breach of the Frand obligation would be a contract dispute, not an antitrust case.
The case was part of a closely watched group of lawsuits in the US and Europe pitting Daimler and its parts makers against the telecom industry. Nokia has been winning court rulings in Germany.
“This decision further confirms that Avanci’s one-stop licensing solution for the auto industry is consistent with US antitrust law,” Avanci founder and chief executive Kasim Alfalahi said in a statement.
COMPETITION: AMD, Intel and Qualcomm are unveiling new laptop and desktop parts in Las Vegas, arguing their technologies provide the best performance for AI workloads Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), the second-biggest maker of computer processors, said its chips are to be used by Dell Technologies Inc for the first time in PCs sold to businesses. The chipmaker unveiled new processors it says would make AMD-based PCs the best at running artificial intelligence (AI) software. Dell has decided to use the chips in some of its computers aimed at business customers, AMD executives said at CES in Las Vegas on Monday. Dell’s embrace of AMD for corporate PCs — it already uses the chipmaker for consumer devices — is another blow for Intel Corp as the company
ADVANCED: Previously, Taiwanese chip companies were restricted from building overseas fabs with technology less than two generations behind domestic factories Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp, would no longer be restricted from investing in next-generation 2-nanometer chip production in the US, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. However, the ministry added that the world’s biggest contract chipmaker would not be making any reckless decisions, given the weight of its up to US$30 billion investment. To safeguard Taiwan’s chip technology advantages, the government has barred local chipmakers from making chips using more advanced technologies at their overseas factories, in China particularly. Chipmakers were previously only allowed to produce chips using less advanced technologies, specifically
MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday said it is teaming up with Nvidia Corp to develop a new chip for artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputers that uses architecture licensed from Arm Holdings PLC. The new product is targeting AI researchers, data scientists and students rather than the mass PC market, the company said. The announcement comes as MediaTek makes efforts to add AI capabilities to its Dimensity chips for smartphones and tablets, Genio family for the Internet of Things devices, Pentonic series of smart TVs, Kompanio line of Arm-based Chromebooks, along with the Dimensity auto platform for vehicles. MeidaTek, the world’s largest chip designer for smartphones
TECH PULL: Electronics heavyweights also attracted strong buying ahead of the CES, analysts said. Meanwhile, Asian markets were mixed amid Trump’s incoming presidency Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares yesterday closed at a new high in the wake of a rally among tech stocks on Wall Street on Friday, moving the TAIEX sharply higher by more than 600 points. TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock in the TAIEX, rose 4.65 percent to close at a new high of NT$1,125, boosting its market value to NT$29.17 trillion (US$888 billion) and contributing about 400 points to the TAIEX’s rise. The TAIEX ended up 639.41 points, or 2.79 percent, at 23,547.71. Turnover totaled NT$406.478 billion, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. The surge in TSMC follows a positive performance
RSS