Open Markets and Public Knowledge Asks International Trade Commission to Protect Competition

View the original story by Shiva Stella here.

Today, Public Knowledge and the Open Markets Institute sent a letter to the International Trade Commission supporting a recent administrative law judge’s decision that Qualcomm’s requested relief of banning certain models of Apple’s iPhone from the U.S. market would harm the public interest, by reducing competition in the premium baseband market. Currently Intel is Qualcomm's only competitor for this vital smartphone component, and the judge found that granting Qualcomm's request would cause it to exit the market entirely.

The following may be attributed to John Bergmayer, Senior Counsel at Public Knowledge:

“Qualcomm is trying to use the ITC process to strengthen its monopoly. The ITC administrative law judge has properly held that the public interest is not served by bringing the number of competitors in critical premium baseband technology for smartphones from two to one. Unless the ITC upholds this important ruling, consumers can expect to see higher prices and lower quality for smartphones and other connected devices.”

You may view the letter here.