U.S. mobile phone chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. has filed an appeal to a Seoul High Court against South Korea’s antitrust watchdog’s administrative fine of 1.03 trillion won ($853 million) on charges of unfair practices based on abuse of the U.S. company’s dominant position in the mobile communications market.

Qualcomm’s filing with the Seoul Appeals Court made a deadline set for Wednesday to respond to the order issued in late December, the court said on Wednesday.

An unnamed official of the company’s Korean affiliate said he cannot confirm the appeal filing but there is no change in the company’s basic position.

In December, the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) imposed penalties of 1.3 trillion won with administrative corrective orders on three Qualcomm companies -- Qualcomm Incorporated, Qualcomm Technology Incorporated, Qualcomm CDMA Technology Asia Pacific PTE LTD, saying the companies abused their market power to stymie competition and monopolized patent rights by connecting the chipset supply and patent license agreements.

Qualcomm immediately responded it will appeal to an appellate court, calling the KFTC ruling “unprecedented and insupportable.” “Qualcomm strongly believes that the KFTC findings are inconsistent with the facts, disregard the economic realities of the marketplace, and misapply fundamental tenets of competition law,” said then Qualcomm General Counsel Don Rosenberg.

In a recent interview, Rosenberg said the KFTC decision is also under question because of a possible link to the ongoing corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye and Samsung Electronics, a major customer of Qualcomm. “The incorrect decision is the product of an unfair process that we believe was heavily influenced by commercial interests. The recent reports about the special prosecutor’s investigation into Samsung’s connection to the former vice chairman of the KFTC, who oversaw our case, has increased our level of concern,” he told Bloomberg on Tuesday.

By Lee Dong-in

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