SOUTH KOREA’S antitrust regulator fined Qualcomm Inc. 1.03 trillion won (US$854 million) for what it called unfair business practices in patent licensing and modem chip sales, a decision the U.S. firm said it will challenge in court.

    The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said yesterday Qualcomm abused its dominant market position and forced handset makers to pay royalties for an unnecessarily broad set of patents as part of sales of its modem chips. The fine is the largest ever levied in South Korea.

    The U.S. firm also hindered competition by refusing or limiting licensing of its standard essential patents for modem chips to rival chipmakers such as Intel Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. and MediaTek Inc., limiting competition, the regulator said.

    Qualcomm said in a statement it will file for an immediate stay of the corrective order and appeal the decision to the Seoul High Court. The firm will also appeal the amount of the fine and the method used to calculate it.

    “Qualcomm strongly disagrees with the KFTC’s announced decision,” it said. (SD-Agencies)