Despite numerous complaints about Qualcomm’s patent licensing practices over the past decade, few have ever got to court, and the actual details of its famous, and closely guarded, business model remained shrouded in secrecy – until a string of antitrust probes in various countries, and the lawsuits filed by Apple, started to shine a light on its system. Nowhere has that been brighter than in an antitrust trial which got under way this month in Silicon Valley, close to Apple’s headquarters. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is hearing allegations about unfair business practices, which are exposing Qualcomm’s methods to the world. Among the alleged violations which the FTC is investigating are a “no licence, no chips” policy, refusal to…