Qualcomm’s shareholders have managed to attain one thing that Apple and authorities regulators throughout the globe tried to and didn’t do: get Qualcomm to pay up over its aggressive licensing practices.
In a court docket submitting on Tuesday, Qualcomm stated it will conform to pay $75 million to settle a lawsuit introduced by shareholders, who declare that the corporate misled them about how its enterprise practices labored and artificially inflated its inventory value consequently. The settlement was earlier reported by Reuters.
Shareholders took challenge with Qualcomm’s failure to totally disclose the way it dealt with patent licensing. On the time, the corporate refused to license customary important patents to sure opponents and in some {cases} made shopping for its chips a requirement to get a deal.
Qualcomm received, its inventory value rose, and the shareholder lawsuit began trying shaky
Apple, the US Federal Trade Commission, and other regulators sued Qualcomm over that very same challenge. The lawsuits claimed that Qualcomm was engaged in unfair enterprise practices by tying negotiations for important patents to necessities that firms purchase its chips, too.
The outcome left the shareholder lawsuit in a humorous place: Qualcomm’s inventory value rose consequently, so their declare that Qualcomm artificially inflated its share value was left trying fairly shaky. Because of this, the shareholders argue that this settlement is an effective consequence — they’re really getting paid, not like everybody else.
A choose nonetheless must approve phrases of the settlement. Qualcomm didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.