19-11-27 ACT Acb

Case: 19-16122, 11/27/2019, ID: 11515098, DktEntry: 156, Page 1 of 37
No. 19-16122
IN THE
United States Court of Appeals
for the Ninth Circuit
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION,

Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
QUALCOMM INCORPORATED, A DELAWARE CORPORATION,
Defendant-Appellant.
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
HON. LUCY H. KOH, JUDGE, CASE NO. 5:17-CV-00220
BRIEF OF AMICUS CURIAE ACT | THE APP ASSOCIATION

IN SUPPORT OF APPELLEE
Amanda Tessar
PERKINS COIE LLP
1900 Sixteenth St, #1400
Denver, CO 80202-5255
Telephone: (303) 291.2357
Facsimile: (303) 291-2457
[email protected]
Sarah E. Fowler
PERKINS COIE LLP
3150 Porter Dr.
Palo Alto, CA 94304
Telephone: (650) 838-4300
Facsimile: (650) 838-4350
[email protected]
CORPORATE DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
Pursuant to Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure 26.1 and 29(a)(4)(A),
amicus curiae ACT | THE APP ASSOCIATION certifies that it is not a corporation
and has no stock. It therefore has no parent corporations or any publicly-held
corporations that own 10% or more of stock.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
I. STATEMENT OF INTEREST ................................................................................1

II. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................1
III. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT: WHY ENFORCEMENT OF THE FRAND
PROMISE MATTERS TO THE ASSOCIATION........................................................7
IV. REFUSAL TO LICENSE SUPPLIERS IS ANATHEMA TO FRAND ........................12
A. Consistent with Precedent, the District Court Correctly
Rejected Appellant’s Invitation to Read Hidden Exclusions into
the TIA and ATIS Agreements ..........................................................12
B. The District Court’s Rejection of Hidden Exclusions to
FRAND Aligns with Longstanding Agency Guidance and
International Authorities ....................................................................16
C. The District Court’s Rejection of Hidden Exclusions to
FRAND Aligns with Appellant’s Own Behavior and Judicial
Admissions .........................................................................................18
D. Appellant’s Amici Cannot Alter the FRAND Commitment’s
Plain Language ...................................................................................21
V. APPELLANT’S VIOLATION OF FRAND OBLIGATIONS RIGHTLY
IMPLICATES COMPETITION LAW ....................................................................26
A. Breach of the FRAND Promise Harms Competition at a Critical
Time for Deployment of Next-Generation Standards ........................26
B. Refusals to License Harm Standardization and American
Interests...............................................................................................29
VI. CONCLUSION..................................................................................................31
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TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
CASES
Apple Inc. v. Qualcomm, Inc.,
No. 3:17-cv-00108-GPC-MDD (S.D. Cal. Sept. 7, 2017), Dkt. 141,
Order Denying Anti-Suit Injunction .......................................................16, 17, 25
Aspen Skiing Co. v. Aspen Highlands Skiing Corp.,
472 U.S. 585 (1985) ......................................................................................30, 31
Hartford Empire v. U.S.,
323 U.S. 386, modified by 324 U.S. 570 (1945)................................................. 14
Huawei Techs. Co. v. ZTE Corp.,
C-170/13, E.C.R. 477 (2015) .............................................................................. 20
In re Certain Mobile Elec. Devices,
Inv. No. 337-TA-1065, Initial Determination, at 195-96 (October
30, 2018) ............................................................................................................... 8
Microsoft Corp. v. Motorola, Inc.,
696 F.3d 872 (9th Cir. 2012) .............................................................................. 15
Microsoft Corp. v. Motorola, Inc.,
795 F. 3d 1024 (9th Cir. 2015) .....................................................................15, 30
Quanta Comp., Inc. v. LG Elecs., Inc.,
553 U.S. 617 (2008) ......................................................................................20, 21
Turner v. Met. Life Ins. Co.,
56 Cal. App. 2d 862 (1943) ................................................................................ 17
Verizon Comm’ns Inc. v. Law Offices of Curtis V. Trinko, LLP,
540 U.S. 398 (2004) ......................................................................................30, 31
Vernon v. S. Cal. Edison Co.,
955 F.2d 1361 (9th Cir. 1992) ........................................................................7, 28
RULES & OTHER AUTHORITIES
Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 29 .................................................................... 1
2 C.F.R. §200.320 .................................................................................................... 33
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I. STATEMENT OF INTEREST1
Amicus curiae ACT | The App Association (the “Association”) represents
more than 5,000 small technology-development companies that create leading
software and hardware solutions. The ecosystem the Association represents is
valued at approximately $1.7 trillion and provides 5.9 million American jobs.2 The
Association is the leading global representative for the small-business innovator
community on law and policy for standard-essential patents (“SEPs”). The
Association cares deeply about wireless communication standards because they
provide a baseline of functionality around which our members innovate, develop
products, engage with customers, and create value for our industries and,
ultimately, for consumers.
II. INTRODUCTION
As our world transitions to an increasingly connected global economy, with
so-called “5G” and “Internet of Things” (“IoT”) technologies now in the
deployment stage, it has never been more critical to protect emerging markets and
market participants from abusive practices relating to SEPs. It is a key mission of
1
Both parties consent to the filing of this brief. Pursuant to FRAP 29(a)(4)(E),
the Association certifies that its counsel authored this brief in whole, no party or
party’s counsel contributed money intended to fund preparing or submitting the
brief, and no person—other than the Association and its members—contributed
money that was intended to fund the preparation or submission of this brief.
2
See, e.g., Online Platforms and Market Power, https://actonline.org/wp-
content/uploads/Online-Platforms-and-Market-Power-Part-2-Innovation-and-
Entrepreneurship-1.pdf.
-1-
the Association to represent the interests of innovators that develop, use, and
deploy standardized technologies in next-generation products, while also
respecting the rights and interests of SEP-holders to seek fair, reasonable, and non-
discriminatory (“FRAND”) royalties.
The Association is particularly concerned with protecting our members’
ability (and legal right) to obtained standardized components that are fully licensed
and readily usable, including for incorporation into downstream products, without
further individualized transaction costs. The market reality is that there are tens of
thousands of companies that incorporate and deploy wireless-enabled devices—but
only a dwindling handful of suppliers of the cellular components for those devices.
This combines to mean that FRAND licenses to a few companies could and would
more efficiently capture all or nearly all the market for telecommunication-enabled
devices than individualized licenses at the end-device level.
As the market continues its transition to 5G and IoT, all types of businesses
and products—including small businesses with little familiarity with the technical
details of telecommunications technologies—will incorporate and use wireless
sensors and transmitters, including cellular chips, into their downstream devices.
Industry “verticals” that have or very soon will adopt standardized wireless devices
include medical, automotive, warehousing, household appliances, transportation,
and energy, to name just a few examples.
-2-
Appellant’s novel view that licenses are available only to “end-user”
devices, rather than at the chip or component level, is contrary to the plain text of
Appellant’s FRAND commitments. Moreover, this view, if adopted, would
undermine many of the reasons for, and efficiencies of, adopting wireless standards
in the first instance. Appellant’s approach would entail that “downstream”
companies, including those that merely purchase and incorporate wireless
components into their end products, must themselves become expert SEP licensing
negotiators, skilled in evaluating complex cellular technologies, to operate their
businesses. In short, Appellant’s approach would require that warehouse
managers, truck fleet operators, application developers, and a host of other
similarly-situated individuals become responsible for evaluating tens of thousands
of alleged SEPs and negotiating FRAND terms as a condition to running their
businesses. Such an approach would badly damage incentives for such companies
to deploy standardized technologies, to innovate on top of those technologies, and
to extend U.S. leadership in the connected economy.3 The district court correctly
held that the clear text of the FRAND policies of ATIS and TIA do not admit of
3
The Association has direct experience with the deleterious effect of SEP abuses.
For example, one of our members sought to develop a novel drone device (and
associated software platform) for firefighting agencies, which would have
enabled firefighters to monitor and address dangerous conditions. Concerns
over after-the-fact SEP abuses ultimately swayed the member not to bring the
product to market, however. In short, the company’s inability to have certainty
regarding product costs undermined an otherwise-innovative new business.
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such absurd results.
The Association respectfully suggests that the far more efficient and rational
interpretation of Appellant’s FRAND commitment also happens to be the correct
one. Innovative downstream companies, such as the Association’s members,
should be able to purchase and use fully-licensed components from their suppliers.
That is the import of Appellant’s FRAND promise.
As detailed below, at least four American courts (not counting the district
court here) have noted the FRAND promise does not include secret, unstated
exclusions limiting licenses to some slices of the market. Instead, the FRAND
promises at issue here mean exactly what they say—i.e., that a FRAND promisor
must license to “all applicants” (TIA)4 and to “applicants desiring to utilize the
license for the purpose of implementing the standard” (ATIS).5 The TIA and ATIS
policies are simply not susceptible to Appellant’s interpretation of only licensing to
“some” applicants/licensees, but not others.
4
Decl. of J. Milici in Support of FTC’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on
Qualcomm’s SEP Licensing Commitments (“Milici Dec.”), FTC v. Qualcomm
Inc., No. 5:17-cv-00220-LHK (N.D.Cal. Aug. 30, 2018), Ex. 1, ECF No. 792-2
(“TIA IPR Policy”) ¶ 3.1.1(2)(b). TIA is unequivocal that refusals to license
“competing modem-chip sellers” are prohibited; the TIA IPR Guidelines
expressly note that “[a]n example of conduct that would constitute
discrimination is a willingness to license all applicants except for competitors of
the licensor.” Id., Ex. 30 (“TIA IPR Guidelines”) ¶ 5 (emphasis added).
5
Id., Ex. 2 (“ATIS IPR Policy”) at ¶ 10.4.2.
-4-
Appellant’s current views are extreme—and inconsistent with Appellant’s
own prior interpretations of the meaning of the FRAND promise. Appellant itself,
as recently as 2009, sued a rival chipmaker in federal court, claiming that the rival
chipmaker had breached its FRAND promise by refusing to grant Appellant a
license to the rival’s SEPs for Appellant’s own chips.6 In a similar vein, Appellant
represented to the industry and world in a 2008 federal court filing that it was
willing to grant FRAND licenses to “any interested company.”7 In 2007,
Appellant actively touted to investors that its own practice of requiring fully
exhaustive licenses to SEPs for its own chip sales benefitted Appellant’s
customers.8 And all of this followed statements by Qualcomm to investors in
2005, addressing whether Appellant would retain the ability to obtain SEP licenses
6
Qualcomm Opp. to Broadcom Motion to Dismiss, FTC v. Qualcomm Inc., No.
SACV05-0467-JVS (C.D.Cal. Jan. 20, 2009), ECF No. 1606 (asserting
violation of FRAND based on competing chipset manufacturer’s refusal to
license Qualcomm); see also Order Granting FTC’s Motion for Partial
Summary Judgment, No. 5:17-cv-00220-LHK (N.D.Cal. Nov. 6, 2018), ECF
No. 931, at 22-23 (noting Appellant’s 1990s-era claim that another SEP-owner
had violated FRAND by refusing to license Appellant).
7
Broadcom Corp. v. Qualcomm Inc., No. 05-3350 (D.N.J. Feb. 29, 2008),
Qualcomm’s Counterclaims, ¶¶ 25, 56, 61, 77, ECF No. 139 (“Qualcomm,
which owns a large portion of the intellectual property covering CDMA
technology, operates a pro-competitive licensing model, in which it offers
licenses on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms to any interested
company.”).
8
Qualcomm NY Analyst Day presentation, Nov. 14, 2007,
https://actonline.org/wp-content/uploads/Altman-NY-Analyst-Day-see-p.-
231.pdf (“Qualcomm chipset customers benefit directly from the exhaustive
cross licenses that Qualcomm has negotiated which reduce their royalty cost.”).
-5-
protecting Appellant’s own chipsets from rivals’ patents, that “no company should
be utilizing its patents to try to keep somebody else from the marketplace.”9 What
is good for the goose must also be good for the gander.
Finally, Appellant’s suggestion that the district court erred in applying
competition law in the context of a claim for breach of the FRAND obligation is
misplaced. Appellant’s argument that a breach of contract may not give rise to
antitrust liability has been soundly rejected by this Court.10 As this and other
courts have noted, FRAND serves as a necessary protection and “bulwark” so that
standard-setting processes—including the “whitelisting” and “blacklisting” of
technologies inherent therein—do not run afoul of the competition laws.
Where the FRAND obligation is breached, such as by Appellant’s refusal to
license suppliers, these critical competition law protections are undermined.
Indeed, according to one U.S. court that evaluated the public impact of Appellant’s
practices, there is “a real and palpable likelihood the National Security interests
will be jeopardized” due to Appellant’s exclusion of competitors, contrary to
9
L. Lupin (Qualcomm Executive Vice President and General Counsel)
Comments (June 6, 2005),
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=6590048.
10
Vernon v. S. Cal. Edison Co., 955 F.2d 1361, 1368 (9th Cir. 1992) (rejecting
argument “that antitrust liability may not be predicated on conduct which also
happens to create a contract dispute”).
-6-
Appellant’s arguments on appeal.11
III. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT: WHY ENFORCEMENT OF THE

FRAND PROMISE MATTERS TO THE ASSOCIATION
The Association’s interest in restricting SEP abuse is straightforward: in
today’s economy, businesses incorporate, use, and rely on wireless
communications functionality in all sorts of ways, and it is imperative to a healthy
marketplace and fair competition that licenses to those technologies remain
available on FRAND terms to all market participants.
In general, the Association’s members’ supply chains for wireless
technologies begin with the modem chip manufacturers, who make and sell the
components enabling and embodying standardized functionality. In some cases,
the chips supplied by those manufacturers may be incorporated directly into end-
user devices (often referred to as “original equipment manufacturer” or “OEM”
devices), such as mobile handsets. But, in other situations or industries, those
modem chips are combined with other components by so-called “module
manufacturers” as part of standard-compliant circuit boards or as “embedded
modules,” providing more of a “plug-and-play” approach for their customers.
Such modules themselves may then be incorporated into an end device, such as a
router or IoT application, or they may be further embedded into more complex
11
In re Certain Mobile Elec. Devices, Inv. No. 337-TA-1065, ID, at 195-96
(October 30, 2018).
-7-
assembled devices. For example, an automotive telematics system, which
incorporates a telecommunications module and is known as a telematics control
unit or “TCU,” provides users with data access for traffic, internet connectivity,
and other useful applications. In turn, these more complex systems may then be
further incorporated into an end device, such as a car. These various permutations,
which often use identical telecommunications chips to provide cellular
functionality, are shown below.
Telecom OEM (e.g.,
Chip cell phone)
OEM (e.g.,
Telecom Telecom
smart
Chip Module
meter)
Advanced
Telecom Telecom OEM (e.g.,
Component
Chip Module automobile)
(e.g., TCU)
Critical for the Association, the standards ecosystem is not just about
hardware. Rather, services or other industry users deploy, integrate, or build upon
end/OEM devices in various ways, such as a software company that develops
applications using mobile technologies for managing a warehouse or a retail
business that uses telecommunication sensors and associated software applications
to track inventory. In this way, the wireless chipsets enable communication
-8-
standards for use in developing and facilitating OEM devices. The OEM devices
themselves, in turn, can foster entire industries of further innovation.
E.g., Music
Streaming
Service
OEM (e.g., E.g., smart
automobile, smart energy control
application
meter, cell phone)
E.g., social
media network
Because component makers have particular expertise in standardized
technologies, it is often most reasonable and practical for a downstream customer
to rely on its upstream component maker(s) to negotiate and obtain any necessary
SEP licenses. To take a particularly relevant example here, there have been only a
small handful of modem chip suppliers in the telecommunications industry, so a
few licenses among chip competitors could negate the need for individual licenses
to the tens of thousands (or more) downstream companies that purchase and
incorporate those modem chips into their end products. Likewise, suppliers that
develop, manufacture, and sell the standardized components may be best
positioned to evaluate patents covering those technologies and thus to negotiate
-9-
regarding their validity, essentiality, and value. By contrast, a downstream
company may have little or no expertise with the details of upstream wireless
technologies and may therefore prefer to obtain fully-licensed components from
the suppliers that design and manufacture those components.
Of course, in some cases, “downstream” companies such as OEMs or
software service providers may seek to obtain their own SEP license. There can be
various reasons for such business decisions, such as a preference to negotiate terms
directly or to maintain an ability to use multiple suppliers regardless of each
supplier’s individual license status. The FRAND promise, made as part of
participation in the standard-setting process, allows for any of these scenarios (and
thus for the market to decide what is most efficient) by requiring the promisor to
provide licenses to “applicants” without distinguishing, limiting, or carving out
particular levels of the supply chain.
Contrary to Appellant’s suggestion, this understanding of the FRAND
obligation is entirely mainstream. For example:
 50+ industry leaders and 70+ governmental and academic thought leaders
have repeatedly banded together to voice views consistent with those
here in a series of submissions to the entities such as the DOJ,12 the
12
Multi-Association Letter to AAG Delrahim, http://www.ccianet.org/wp-
content/uploads/2018/05/Multi-Assn-DOJ-White-Paper-053018.pdf; Industry
Letter to AAG Delrahim, http://www.ccianet.org/wp-
content/uploads/2018/01/Industry-Letter-to-DOJ-AAG.pdf; Letter to AAG
Delrahim Regarding Speeches on Patents and Holdup,
-10-
FTC,13 the Department of Commerce, and the USPTO.14 These

submissions included commentary that “[a] patentee’s voluntary
agreement to that bargain is not ‘compulsory licensing.’ Rather, it is a
common feature of collaboration between industry participants to
develop standards.”15
 A recent workshop brought together 50+ companies that worked to
document core principles for SEP-licensing, particularly for 5G.16 These
agreed-upon industry principles include that “[a] FRAND license should
be made available to anybody that wants one to implement the relevant
standard. Refusing to license some implementers is the antithesis of the
FRAND promise. In many cases, upstream licensing can create
significant efficiencies that benefit the patent holder, the licensee and the
industry.”17
 The companies and associations that have joined the Association in
efforts to combat SEP abuses such as the refusal to license some industry
participants represent over $100B annually in R&D spending across a
range of industries, own hundreds of thousands of patents (including
SEPs), employ 50 million+ Americans, and contribute trillions of dollars
to annual U.S. GDP.18
In other words, in addition to being irrelevant given the clear language of the
FRAND promise, it is also inaccurate to suggest that the obligation to license
https://www.competitionpolicyinternational.com/wp-
content/uploads/2018/05/DOJ-patent-holdup-letter.pdf.
13
Comments to FTC, https://www.ftc.gov/policy/public-
comments/2018/08/20/comment-ftc-2018-0055-d-0031.
14
Comments to Department of Commerce and USPTO, http://actonline.org/wp-
content/uploads/Multi-Stakeholder-Letter-re-DOJ-USPTO-Policy-Statement-
042219.pdf.
15
Industry Letter to AAG Delrahim, supra n.12 at 2.
16
Core Principles and Approaches for Licensing of SEPs, CEN-CENELEC CWA
9500, ftp://ftp.cencenelec.eu/EN/News/WS/2019/SEP2/WS-SEP2-CWA95000-
final-draft.pdf.
17
Id. at 9, 32-33.
18
Comments to Department of Commerce and USPTO, http://actonline.org/wp-
content/uploads/Multi-Stakeholder-Letter-re-DOJ-USPTO-Policy-Statement-
042219.pdf (citing figures).
-11-
suppliers is at odds with industry views. As discussed below, it is only recently
that Appellant (and a few aligned, licensing-focused SEP owners) have sought to
incorrectly claim that their own self-serving new views are the industry norm.
IV. REFUSAL TO LICENSE SUPPLIERS IS ANATHEMA TO FRAND
A. Consistent with Precedent, the District Court Correctly Rejected

Appellant’s Invitation to Read Hidden Exclusions into the TIA and ATIS
Agreements
The FRAND commitment was not originally developed in the standard-
setting context. Rather, obligations to license on reasonable and non-
discriminatory terms were developed in the mid-20th century as a market-access
remedy for anticompetitive conduct under American antitrust laws.19 Notably,
courts—including the U.S. Supreme Court—imposed requirements to license
patents on reasonable terms to “all applicants” through remedial orders. See, e.g.,
Hartford Empire v. U.S., 323 U.S. 386, modified by 324 U.S. 570, 574 (1945)
(imposing requirement to license “all applicants to make, use, or sell the patented
machines at reasonable royalties”).
It was not until later that the FRAND obligation was borrowed for use by
19
A detailed historical analysis is presented by noted FRAND academic Jorge
Contreras in A Brief History of FRAND: Analyzing Current Debates in
Standard-Setting and Antitrust through a Historical Lens, 80 Antitrust L.J. 39
(2015). Professor Contreras collects and discusses competition law cases
imposing FRAND obligations, id. at 49-51, and how (beginning in about 1956)
this caselaw-based licensing obligation migrated into a voluntary contractual
commitment of American standards-setting bodies.
-12-
standard-setting organizations. These organizations adopted the FRAND approach
of competition law so as to proactively address competitive risks associated with
standard-setting (i.e., the voluntary licensing promise mooted any need for ex post
application of competition law-based licensing remedies). While the
circumstances giving rise to the FRAND commitment are quite different for
standard-setting (e.g., they are voluntary for participants who wish to contribute
technologies to be included in standards) than in the historical competition matters
from which FRAND originally derives, the language of the particular
commitments to license on reasonable terms has been identical or nearly so.
Notably, in the historical matters, the Supreme Court and many lower courts
regularly applied such FRAND obligations as market-access tools without
accepting or applying unstated exceptions.20
As such, it is not surprising that this Court—when called upon to evaluate
and apply FRAND licensing policies in 2012—found that an SEP-holder subject to
FRAND obligations cannot refuse to license some applicants:
A FRAND promise to “grant a license to an unrestricted

number of applicants on a worldwide, non-discriminatory
basis and on reasonable terms and conditions to use the
patented material necessary … admits of no limitations as to
who or how many applicants could receive a license .…”21
20
Contreras, supra n.19 at 74 (collecting cases).
21
Microsoft Corp. v. Motorola, Inc., 696 F.3d 872, 884 (9th Cir. 2012) (emphasis
added). This decision evaluated SDO language quite similar to the TIA policy.
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Lest there be any doubt, the Court repeated this holding a few years later, in 2015:
To mitigate the risk that a SEP holder will extract more than
the fair value of its patented technology, many SDOs require
SEP holders to agree to license their patents on ‘reasonable
and non-discriminatory’ or ‘RAND’ terms. Under these
agreements, an SEP holder cannot refuse a license to a
manufacturer who commits to paying the RAND rate.22
The Court, in Microsoft, clearly explained how and why FRAND includes a
“requirement to negotiate licenses with all seekers.”23
The Federal Circuit has also confirmed that the FRAND promise does not
allow the party making the FRAND promise to refuse licenses. Specifically, in
addressing the application of Georgia-Pacific factors in the context of SEPs under
the IEEE FRAND policy, the court noted:
[T]he licensor’s established policy and marketing program to

maintain his patent monopoly by not licensing others to use
the invention [is not relevant for SEPs]. [...] Because of [the]
RAND commitment [...] it cannot have that kind of policy for
maintaining a patent monopoly.”24
Additionally, in evaluating the FRAND policy of another telecommunication
standard-setting organization, ETSI, a recent California district court decision
But the TIA IPR policy is even more express that “all applicants”
(¶ 3.1.1(2)(b)) are entitled to a license than the SDO policy addressed in
Microsoft.
22
Microsoft Corp. v. Motorola, Inc., 795 F. 3d 1024, 1031 (9th Cir. 2015)
(emphasis added).
23
Id. (emphasis added).
24
Ericsson, Inc. v. D-Link Sys., Inc., 773 F.3d 1201, 1230 (Fed. Cir. 2014)
(emphasis added).
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found that ETSI’s FRAND policy “plainly states that any willing licensee is
entitled to license Qualcomm’s intellectual property at a FRAND rate.”25
These precedents are consistent with the practice and public positions of
many standard-setting organizations. For instance, 3GPP (of which ATIS is a part)
is the key industry organization for development of cellular standards, and 3GPP
notifies its members, participants, and the public at large that all of its members’
FRAND policies (including the ATIS policy at issue here) “require IPR holders to
make licences available to all third parties.”26
These cases and authorities are likewise consistent with general principles of
California contract law even outside the context of FRAND. In short, California
courts do not read unstated exclusions into contracts.27
25
Apple Inc. v. Qualcomm, Inc., No. 3:17-cv-00108-GPC-MDD (S.D.Cal. Sept. 7,
2017), Dkt. 141, Order Denying Anti-Suit Injunction.
26
See https://www.3gpp.org/contact/3gpp-faqs#L5 (“All Individual Members of
3GPP abide by the IPR policies of the [3GPP-member SDO] to which they
belong; all such policies are broadly similar … and require IPR holders to
make licences available to all third parties, whether or not they are 3GPP
Individual Members, under fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND)
terms.”) (emphasis added). Indeed, given Apple, supra n.25, and 3GPP’s own
statements about the effect of its members’ (including ETSI’s) IPR policies,
Appellant’s assertions about the need for “compatibility” among 3GPP-member
patent policies (e.g., Appellant’s Opening Brief, at 137-138) would appear to
contradict Appellant’s position.
27
See, e.g., Nat’l Union Fire Ins. Co. v. Lynette C., 228 Cal. App. 3d 1073, 1079
(Cal. App. 1991) (“an insured” means “any insured under the policy”);
Gerdlund v. Elec. Dispensers Int’l, 190 Cal. App. 3d 263, 273-74 (Cal. App.
1987) (contract providing for termination “at any time and for any reason”
cannot have conditions added limiting the termination right to “any good
-15-
Appellant’s invitation to disrupt all of these precedents should be declined.
It should be no surprise to anyone, much less Appellant, that a FRAND promise
does not include unstated exclusions for companies at some levels of the supply
chain.
B. The District Court’s Rejection of Hidden Exclusions to FRAND Aligns

with Longstanding Agency Guidance and International Authorities
U.S. agencies have long supported that FRAND requires that licenses be
available to any third party that seeks one. For example, in 2013, the FTC resolved
an enforcement action involving Google and Motorola relating to SEPs and efforts
to exclude competitors from the marketplace. As the FTC publicly stated at the
time—well before the case here was filed and as a notification to the
marketplace—“[b]y making a FRAND commitment, a SEP holder voluntarily
chooses to license its SEPs to all implementers of the standard on fair and
reasonable terms.”28
Historically, the U.S. DOJ had also been aligned with the FTC’s FRAND
positions. For example, in 2015, the DOJ opined that an SDO provision clarifying
the obligation to license component suppliers “has the potential to facilitate
reason”) (citations omitted); Turner v. Met. Life Ins. Co., 56 Cal. App. 2d 862,
869 (1943) (contract specifying benefits to an employee’s “children” cannot be
interpreted to exclude illegitimate ones).
28
FTC, Statement Re In the Matter of Motorola Mobility LLC and Google Inc.,
File No. 121-0120, No. C-4410 (July 23, 2013) (emphasis added).
-16-
implementation of IEEE standards, to the benefit of consumers, and is unlikely to
cause competitive harm.”29 The DOJ also still posts on its website a 2012 speech
to SDOs by the then-acting Head of Antitrust explaining that “a patent holder who
participates in the standard-setting activities and makes a F/RAND licensing
commitment is implicitly saying that she will license the patent claims that must be
used to implement the standard to any licensee that is willing and able to comply
with the licensing terms embodied in the commitment.”30
Foreign authorities interpret the FRAND obligation the same way. For
example, the European Commission’s Horizontal Guidelines provide:
In order to ensure effective access to the standard, the IPR

policy would need to require participants wishing to have their
IPR included in the standard to provide an irrevocable
commitment in writing to offer to license their essential IPR
to all third parties on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory
terms.31
29
DOJ, Business Review Letter 15-1, IEEE (Feb. 2, 2015), at 14,
http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/busreview/311470.htm.
30
R. Hesse (Acting Assisting Attorney General from 2012-2016), DOJ, Six
‘Small’ Proposals for SSOs Before Lunch (October 10, 2012) (emphasis
added), http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/speeches/287855.pdf. The
Association appreciates that the historical agency approach (spanning prior
administrations from both sides of the aisle) has been revised under the current
AAG for Antitrust. The Association and many others have expressed concerns
with the current AAG’s break with mainstream SEP precedent and policy, see
supra n.12, and the Association remains hopeful that the DOJ will soon return
to its prior approach in alignment with that of the FTC and applicable U.S.
precedent.
31
European Commission, Communication from the Commission—Guidelines on
the Applicability of Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union to Horizontal Co-operation Agreements, ¶¶ 285-287
(emphasis added).
-17-
The European Commission, in enforcing the competition laws against one SEP
owner in 2014, likewise found:
On the basis of that [FRAND] commitment, manufacturers of

GPRS-compliant products can reasonably expect that
Motorola makes its SEPs available on FRAND terms and
conditions to all implementers.32
And the European Court of Justice—the European equivalent of the U.S. Supreme
Court—held in 2015:
[An] undertaking to grant licenses on FRAND terms creates

legitimate expectations on the part of third parties that the
proprietor of the SEP will in fact grant licenses on such
terms.33
Likewise, in Korea, competition authorities concluded that FRAND requires
that “access to and use of cellular SEPs should be guaranteed for the modem
chipset manufacturers in accordance with the purposes of standard-setting and
FRAND commitments.” See Korea FTC, Decision No. 2017-0-25, In re Alleged
Abuse of Market Dominance of Qualcomm Inc., ¶ 235 (Jan. 20, 2017).
C. The District Court’s Rejection of Hidden Exclusions to FRAND Aligns

with Appellant’s Own Behavior and Judicial Admissions
Appellant claims that it has never granted exhaustive chip-level licenses.
32
European Commission, Case AT.39985—Motorola—Enforcement of GPRS
Standard Essential Patents, European Commission ¶ 294 (April 29, 2014)
(emphasis added).
33
European Court of Justice, Huawei Techs. Co. v. ZTE Corp., C-170/13, E.C.R.
477 (2015).
-18-
Qualcomm Opening Brief, at 3. This suggestion is inconsistent with both patent
law precedent and Appellant’s own prior activities and conduct.
The Supreme Court clarified in Quanta that patent exhaustion applies based
on an authorized sale regardless of whether a license purports to be “non-
exhaustive.”34 It expressly cautioned that an “an end-run around exhaustion”—
such as the supposedly “non-exhaustive licenses” that Appellant claims exist
here—is simply impermissible. Such an approach “would violate the longstanding
principle that, when a patented item is ‘once lawfully made and sold, there is no
restriction on [its] use to be implied for the benefit of the patentee.’”35
Appellant seeks to characterize Quanta as changing the law, but the Quanta
court emphasized the opposite, noting that its decision was squarely in line with
“longstanding” exhaustion law.36 As such, the reality is that all of Appellant’s
many dozens of (admitted) chip-level licenses over the past decades were legally
exhaustive, regardless of whether Appellant realized it or what position it takes on
that issue now.
This comports with Appellant’s historical position on the issue, moreover.
34
Quanta Comp., Inc. v. LG Elecs., Inc., 553 U.S. 617, 625 (2008).
35
Id. at 630.
36
Id. at 625 (“The longstanding doctrine of patent exhaustion provides that the
initial authorized sale of a patented item terminates all patent rights to that item.
This Court first applied the doctrine in 19th-century cases.”).
-19-
As the current President of Appellant’s licensing business colorfully and publicly
proclaimed in 2007, “Saying [Qualcomm] refuse[s] to license competitors is like
saying McDonald’s refuses to sell hamburgers [...] It’s nuts. It’s crazy.”37 As to
the flip-side of the coin, Appellant long has sought and successfully obtained for
itself chip-level licenses from other SEP owners that it agrees are exhaustive—
even as it now denies that the licenses that it gives are exhaustive.38
Appellant seeks to brush such issues aside by creating a new and unique rule
exempting its own cross-licenses from otherwise-applicable FRAND obligations.
According to Appellant, cross-licensees must be treated differently because they
protect Appellant from lawsuits brought by its licensees. Qualcomm Opening
Brief, at 137. But this does not follow; if Appellant’s interests were simply to
avoid direct actions by licensees, then Appellant surely would have used the same
(purportedly) “non-exhaustive” license approach that Appellant claims to have
37
Gittlesohn, J., Battle of Tech Heavyweights, Orange County (Cal.) Reg. 1 2007
WLNR 30244838 (5/1/07).
38
Appellant advertised its commercial advantage from these competitor licenses
in providing “pass through” (i.e., exhaustive) licenses. See Qualcomm NY
Analyst Day presentation, supra n.8, at 14 (“Qualcomm Lowers Overall IP
Cost … Qualcomm has proactively acquired exhaustive licenses from its
licensees and others that allow Qualcomm to pass through a significant number
of 3rd party intellectual property rights to Qualcomm’s chipset/software
customers. This reduces potential royalty stacking for Qualcomm customers
because they do not need to pay additional royalties to the 3rd parties for use of
the licensed patents in devices that include Qualcomm chips/software.”).
-20-
used for its own licenses to chip suppliers. But Appellant instead demanded
exhaustive SEP licenses for its own chips and then advertised that fact to its
investors as a competitive advantage over its rivals.
Finally, and even more significantly, Appellant fails to mention that it has
repeatedly represented to the U.S. courts that FRAND promises require licenses to
chipmakers (indeed, to any party seeking a license), despite its recent refusals to do
so itself.39 Appellant even went so far as to sue a rival chipmaker for a supposed
breach of FRAND based on the rival’s refusal to license Appellant.40 In the face of
these judicial admissions, Appellant’s arguments that the district court’s order was
somehow novel or contrary to historical practices ring hollow.
D. Appellant’s Amici Cannot Alter the FRAND Commitment’s Plain

Language
As the district court noted in its decision, “[f]ollowing Qualcomm’s lead,
other SEP licensors like Nokia … have concluded that licensing only OEMs is
more lucrative, and [have now] structured their practices accordingly.” FTC v.
39
Order Granting FTC’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, No. 5:17-cv-
00220-LHK (N.D.Cal. Nov. 6, 2018), ECF No. 931, at 22-23 (noting Appellant
had demanded a license for itself because FRAND requires that licenses be
available to, in Appellant’s words, “all industry participants”); see also, e.g.,
Qualcomm’s Counterclaims, No. 05-3350 (D.N.J. Feb. 29, 2008), ¶¶ 25, 56, 61,
77 (“Qualcomm … offers licenses on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory
terms to any interested company.”; “Qualcomm has repeatedly offered [a
competitor] license terms for Qualcomm’s UMTS patents that comply with
FRAND and are at least as favorable as the terms Qualcomm has offered to
other chipset licensees.”).
40
No. SACV05-0467-JVS (C.D.Cal. Jan. 20, 2009), ECF No. 1606.
-21-
Qualcomm Inc., No. 17-cv-220-LHK, Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law
(May 21, 2019) (“Order”), at 130. The district court found the trial testimony from
such companies “not credible.” Order, at 131-132. Amici briefs from these same
companies likewise offer no credible basis now for overturning the district court’s
decision.
Amicus Nokia, following Appellant, argues that the 3GPP process requires
“compatibility” among IPR policies. Even supposing for the moment that
compatibility interests might alter the plain text of the ATIS and TIA policies,
Nokia’s arguments about 3GPP would appear to contradict Appellant’s position.
Compatibility interests, like the policies’ clear language, also would support that
the FRAND promise requires its maker to license all takers. As mentioned above,
3GPP’s own public position is that all of its constituent groups’ FRAND policies
require licensing to all third parties.41 Likewise, in that same vein, Nokia ignores
41
See supra, n.26. Nokia also argues that “equipment” under the ETSI policy is
limited to only OEM devices because the ETSI policy requires that licenses be
available to devices that “fully conform” to a standard. Nokia Corrected Brief,
at 14-15. Nokia goes too far. ETSI standards exist to promote networks, not
individual devices. As such, there is no single device that practices each and
every element of the standard because the network is made up of receivers,
transmitters, basestations, antennas, and other devices that work together.
Nokia’s attempt to re-imagine the ETSI policy of requiring licenses to any
devices that conform with the standard (i.e., that are compliant with the portions
of the standard relevant to their function) as instead a restriction for licenses to
devices that do not embody each and every element of the network would make
ETSI’s policy meaningless and eliminate the obligation to license anyone at all,
OEMs or otherwise. Such an absurd interpretation cannot be correct.
-22-
both the recent Apple decision42 finding that ETSI’s policy does require licensing
of any willing licensee and that the Director-General of ETSI, who shepherded the
original development and adoption of the ETSI FRAND policy, has published two
detailed whitepapers explaining how and why the ETSI policy was always
intended to apply to any applicant, regardless of their level in the supply chain.43
Equally important, and as the district court found, “Nokia[’s] …
contemporaneous documents and statements contradict Nokia’s … self-serving and
made-for-litigation justifications for refusing to license modem chip suppliers.”
Order, at 131. For example, Nokia itself sought antitrust sanctions against
Appellant in 2006 for failing to exhaustively license a rival chip-maker, Texas
Instruments. Order, at 131. Nokia explained at that time that the requirement that
exhaustive licensing apply to suppliers, such as Texas Instruments, was critical to
competition throughout the supply chain because it allows rival chipmakers to
achieve necessary “economies of scale” to succeed as an alternative source of
supply.44 Nokia now claims that its earlier filing did not actually mean what it
42
Apple, supra n.25.
43
K. Rosenbrock, Licensing At All Levels Is The Rule Under The ETSI IPR Policy
(Nov. 3, 2017), at
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3064894; K. Rosenbrock,
Why the ETSI IPR Policy Requires Licensing to All (August 2017),
http://www.fair-standards.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Why-the-ETSI-IPR-
Policy-Requires-Licensing-to-All_Karl-Heinz-Rosenbrock_2017.pdf.
44
Milici Dec., Ex. 25.
-23-
said, but like Nokia’s testimony at trial, this is just “not credible.”
Amicus Dolby similarly seeks to portray refusals to license component
makers as consistent with FRAND obligations. But Dolby’s submission, like those
from InterDigital and other amici, is riddled with errors. For example, Dolby
suggest that this case is the first time that the FTC or other agencies have suggested
that FRAND includes an obligation to license suppliers. Dolby Amicus Br., at 18.
But, as described above, both the FTC and DOJ (and international authorities) have
long provided exactly such guidance, including in prior FTC enforcement
actions.45
Dolby also argues that a regime that allows suppliers to obtain licenses could
require Dolby to parse through its patent portfolio to determine which patents must
be licensed at the component-level and which must be licensed at the OEM-level.
Dolby Amicus Br., at 6. The district court’s Order here requires no such thing,
either explicitly or implicitly.
First, cellular standards are implemented at the chip level,46 and the Order
addresses only those patents that have been declared essential to cellular standards.
Second, regardless of whether particular declared SEPs are drafted at a device or
45
See, e.g., supra, nn.28-29.
46
E.g., GPNE Corp. v. Apple, Inc., No. 12-CV-02885-LHK, 2014 WL 1494247,
at *13 (N.D.Cal. Apr. 16, 2014) (“[A]s a matter of law that in this case
[involving 3G and 4G alleged SEPs], the baseband processor is the proper
smallest salable patent-practicing unit.”).
-24-
network level, such SEPs can be exhaustively licensed to suppliers, such as
chipmakers, for the benefit of the entire supply chain. This is demonstrated, for
example, by the exhaustive cross-licenses to Appellant’s own chip business.
Order, at 127-128.
It never has been the law that only directly infringing devices may become
licensed, moreover; an exhaustive license to any device or network-level SEPs in
Appellant’s portfolio would protect rival chipmakers from claims of both direct
infringement (i.e., by themselves) and indirect infringement (i.e., by their
customers).
Amicus Alliance for US Startups (“AUS”) claims that limiting Appellant’s
anticompetitive conduct would be bad for standardization. As purported evidence
for this claim, AUS argues that one SSO’s FRAND policy’s (specifically, the
IEEE’s) component-licensing requirement has been “highly disruptive.” AUS Br.,
at 7. But AUS cites a discredited paper based on incorrect data. It has been
empirically demonstrated in a series of three other studies (by the very entity
whose data was incorrectly presented) that development at IEEE—the largest and
most prolific SSO on the planet—has thrived since its updated FRAND policy was
published.47 Indeed, the IEEE itself says that its development process has been
47
IPLytics, Empirical study on patenting and standardization activities at IEEE
(March 2017), https://www.iplytics.com/wp-
-25-
undisturbed by any disputes relating to its FRAND policy.48
V. APPELLANT’S VIOLATION OF FRAND OBLIGATIONS RIGHTLY

IMPLICATES COMPETITION LAW
A. Breach of the FRAND Promise Harms Competition at a Critical Time for

Deployment of Next-Generation Standards
Appellant seeks to insulate its conduct from sanctions under the competition
laws by characterizing its refusal to license as merely a contractual breach. But
this Court long ago rejected such reasoning.49
The reality, as carefully documented in the district court’s extensive
findings, is that SEP abuse is a real-world problem facing the Association’s
members at a critical time of industry development. SEP abuse is a particularly
sensitive competition law problem because the standard-setting process inherently
involves competitors and other participants “whitelisting” some technologies
(including them in the standard) and “blacklisting” others (not including them).
Once a particular patented technology is incorporated into a standard,
content/uploads/2018/01/IPlytics_2017_Patenting-and-standardization-
activities-at-IEEE.pdf; IPlytics, IEEE’s Empirical Record of Success and
Innovation Following Patent Policy Updates (April 2018),
https://www.iplytics.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/IPlytics_Report-on-
IEEE-activities_2018.pdf; IPLytics, Empirical Analysis of Technical
Contributions to IEEE 802 Standards After the Patent Policy Update (2019),
https://www.iplytics.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/IEEE-contribution-
anaylsis_IPlytics-2019.pdf.
48
See K. Karachalios. “IEEE’s Continued Leadership in Standardization” IEEE-
SA Document (2017), http://works.bepress.com/konstantinos-karachalios/1/.
49
Vernon, 955 F.2d at 1368 (conduct can both breach a contract and be
anticompetitive).
-26-
alternative technologies are no longer viable options. The SEP owner whose
technology was selected will be in a stronger negotiating position because any
party that wishes to implement the standard must use the SEP owner’s patented
technology. FRAND promises were designed to address this enhanced market
power by ensuring that licenses are available to market participants on reasonable
terms. Accordingly, where licenses are unavailable in violation of FRAND
undertakings, it is no surprise that the competition laws are implicated.
The district court saw through Appellant’s misdirections, finding
Appellant’s arguments “not credible,” “pretextual,” and a mere “litigation
justification” contrary to Appellant’s own out-of-court assertions. Order, at 132 et
seq. The court’s Order meticulously documents factual findings about how
Appellant’s practices harmed competition in the telecommunication market,
successfully removing a series of domestic rivals (i.e., alternative sources of supply
for the Association’s members and all other market participants). And the district
court expressly addressed the potential harm to competition in 5G markets if
Appellant’s illegal conduct were permitted to continue during the market’s
ongoing transition from 4G/LTE to 5G. In particular, the Order notes that the
practices that are the focus of Appellant’s appeal were viewed by Appellant as
integral to anticompetitive efforts to dominate emerging 5G markets. Order, at
200-01.
-27-
Appellant’s reliance on Trinko50 and Aspen Skiing51 is misplaced. Both
cases addressed the question of whether a refusal to deal, standing alone, can result
in an inference of anticompetitive intent sufficient to give rise to antitrust liability.
Such an inference is not required here since there is significant independent
evidence of Appellant’s anticompetitive intent. Moreover, Appellant here made an
irrevocable commitment to license its competitors and others in return for a
significant benefit (i.e., having its technology included in an industry standard and
thereby obtaining the benefits that go with that). As such, this case is not similar to
Aspen Skiing, where the defendant was not under any obligation to continue
dealing with the other party, nor Trinko, where the defendant would not have dealt
with the other party “absent statutory compulsion.”52 Appellant cannot rely on
either case to escape liability here.
Because Appellant voluntary promised to deal with its rivals by agreeing to
license third-party applicants, this case is fundamentally different than Trinko,
where the defendant would not ever have dealt with its rivals “absent statutory
compulsion.”53 Likewise, here—and again precisely because of Appellant’s
50
Verizon Comm’ns Inc. v. Law Offices of Curtis V. Trinko, LLP, 540 U.S. 398,
407 (2004).
51
Aspen Skiing Co. v. Aspen Highlands Skiing Corp., 472 U.S. 585 (1985).
52
Trinko, 540 U.S. at 409.
53
Trinko, 540 U.S. at 409.
-28-
promise to license rivals on reasonable terms—there is no issue of creating
incentives to free-ride or of unfairly forcing Appellant to share the rewards of its
innovation.54 And there is no risk of collusion attendant to requiring Appellant to
license rivals, as the licensing of rivals does not involve ongoing co-marketing,
joint sale of consumer products, or anything else other than arms-length
competition.55
B. Refusals to License Harm Standardization and American Interests
Appellant argues that the practices found to be anticompetitive by the district
court should be excused because Appellant promotes U.S. leadership in the
development of worldwide standards. Qualcomm Opening Br., at 34, 123-25.
Even assuming that the competition laws and U.S. courts provide special
exceptions for “national champion” companies, this argument has little basis in
fact. While Appellant is undoubtedly an important player in telecommunications
development, the suggestion that Appellant is the only company (much less the
only U.S. company) situated to develop and promote future cellular technologies
is, at best, overstatement. 5G development is and has been exceedingly
collaborative, with hundreds of American and foreign companies working together.
Cellular development will continue (and will continue to include Appellant) even if
54
Id. at 407-408.
55
Aspen Skiing, 472 U.S. at 589-590.
-29-
the Court rejects Appellant’s FRAND arguments here.
The DOJ’s position appears to be based on the (incorrect) assumption that
requiring Appellant to sell chips at fair prices (including compensation for the
value of patents, as permitted by the Order) or to license rivals in return for
FRAND compensation (also as permitted by the Order) would undermine national
interests in 5G development and standard-setting. But 5G standards have already
been published.56 And, while development is always ongoing, there is no factual
or causal link in the record or that can be established to show that Appellant’s
cellular development will cease if it is permitted “only” fair (rather than unfair
monopoly) compensation.57 Moreover, national security experts (from both sides
of the aisle)—like the International Trade Commission decision noted above—
have explained that it is against national security interests and longstanding U.S.
policy to promote a single U.S. source for 5G chipsets.58
As the DOJ itself readily admits, Appellant remains a leading chip supplier,
with heavy incentives to continue development. The DOJ provides no basis—nor
56
See https://www.3gpp.org/release-15.
57
See also J. Kattan, The Qualcomm Case and U.S. National Security, at 6-8,
https://actonline.org/wp-content/uploads/The-Qualcomm-Case-and-National-
Security_Final.pdf.
58
M. Chertoff (former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security), Qualcomm’s
Monopoly Imperils National Security,
https://www.wsj.com/articles/qualcomms-monopoly-imperils-national-security-
11574634436 (November 24, 2019). As the author notes, the government has a
general policy to avoid sole-supplier situations. E.g., 2 C.F.R. §200.320.
-30-
is there any in the record—to conclude that there would be any impact on the sale
of 5G cellular chips if the Order is affirmed.
VI. CONCLUSION
The district court’s Order protects competition and access to SEP licenses at
a crucial time. The harm to the marketplace and consumers associated with SEP
abuse justifies carefully tailored competition law remedies, including those entered
here.
DATED: November 27, 2019
PERKINS COIE LLP
By: /s/ Amanda Tessar

Amanda Tessar
ATTORNEY FOR AMICUS CURIAE

ACT | THE APP ASSOCIATION
-31-
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
On November 27, 2019, the undersigned caused the foregoing document to
be filed electronically by using the Court’s CM/ECF system. All parties are
represented by registered CM/ECF users and will be served by the appellate
CM/ECF system.
DATED: November 27, 2019
PERKINS COIE LLP
By: /s/ Amanda Tessar

Amanda Tessar
ATTORNEYS FOR AMICUS CURIAE

ACT | THE APP ASSOCIATION
-32-
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Case: 19-16122, 11/27/2019, ID: 11515098, DktEntry: 156, Page 1 of 37

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION,

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR

BRIEF OF AMICUS CURIAE ACT | THE APP ASSOCIATION

CORPORATE DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

Pursuant to Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure 26.1 and 29(a)(4)(A),

and has no stock. It therefore has no parent corporations or any publicly-held

corporations that own 10% or more of stock.

I. STATEMENT OF INTEREST ................................................................................1

Amicus curiae ACT | The App Association (the “Association”) represents

more than 5,000 small technology-development companies that create leading

software and hardware solutions. The ecosystem the Association represents is

Association is the leading global representative for the small-business innovator

community on law and policy for standard-essential patents (“SEPs”). The

Association cares deeply about wireless communication standards because they

provide a baseline of functionality around which our members innovate, develop

ultimately, for consumers.

As our world transitions to an increasingly connected global economy, with

so-called “5G” and “Internet of Things” (“IoT”) technologies now in the

market participants from abusive practices relating to SEPs. It is a key mission of

deploy standardized technologies in next-generation products, while also

discriminatory (“FRAND”) royalties.

The Association is particularly concerned with protecting our members’

thousands of companies that incorporate and deploy wireless-enabled devices—but

devices than individualized licenses at the end-device level.

details of telecommunications technologies—will incorporate and use wireless

include medical, automotive, warehousing, household appliances, transportation,

and energy, to name just a few examples.

Appellant’s novel view that licenses are available only to “end-user”

Appellant’s FRAND commitments. Moreover, this view, if adopted, would

in the first instance. Appellant’s approach would entail that “downstream”

companies, including those that merely purchase and incorporate wireless

negotiators, skilled in evaluating complex cellular technologies, to operate their

businesses. In short, Appellant’s approach would require that warehouse

managers, truck fleet operators, application developers, and a host of other

similarly-situated individuals become responsible for evaluating tens of thousands

of alleged SEPs and negotiating FRAND terms as a condition to running their

to deploy standardized technologies, to innovate on top of those technologies, and

such absurd results.

interpretation of Appellant’s FRAND commitment also happens to be the correct

one. Innovative downstream companies, such as the Association’s members,

That is the import of Appellant’s FRAND promise.

policies are simply not susceptible to Appellant’s interpretation of only licensing to

“some” applicants/licensees, but not others.

Appellant’s current views are extreme—and inconsistent with Appellant’s

chipmaker had breached its FRAND promise by refusing to grant Appellant a

willing to grant FRAND licenses to “any interested company.”7 In 2007,

customers.8 And all of this followed statements by Qualcomm to investors in

Finally, Appellant’s suggestion that the district court erred in applying

standard-setting processes—including the “whitelisting” and “blacklisting” of

technologies inherent therein—do not run afoul of the competition laws.

Where the FRAND obligation is breached, such as by Appellant’s refusal to

license suppliers, these critical competition law protections are undermined.

will be jeopardized” due to Appellant’s exclusion of competitors, contrary to

Appellant’s arguments on appeal.11

III. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT: WHY ENFORCEMENT OF THE

The Association’s interest in restricting SEP abuse is straightforward: in

today’s economy, businesses incorporate, use, and rely on wireless

communications functionality in all sorts of ways, and it is imperative to a healthy