A federal judge ruled that evidence provided by chip supplier Qualcomm Inc that major phone makers like Apple Inc have moved to competing suppliers like Intel Corp cannot be used to fight allegations Qualcomm acted to preserve a monopoly on some mobile phone chips.
The Federal Trade Commission's lawsuit in the US District Court for the Northern District of California alleges that Qualcomm's patent licensing and chip sale practices were anti-competitive and sought to preserve a monopoly on so-called premium LTE modem chips, which help mobile phones connect to wireless data network.