QUALCOMM Wins Three More Patent Oppositions
in Korea and Europe
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 23, 2001--QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM - news), pioneer and world leader of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology, today reported that it has prevailed in three additional patent opposition proceedings in Korea and Europe. The three oppositions were initiated by Motorola.
In two separate proceedings, the Korean Intellectual Property Office upheld two important QUALCOMM patents. The first, Korean patent 215,947 ``Method and Apparatus for Controlling Transmission Power in a CDMA Cellular Mobile Telephone System'' claims fundamental power control inventions essential to both second (2G) and third generation (3G) CDMA wireless telecommunications standards. These inventions relate to the control of transmitter power to overcome fading and reduce interference within a telecommunications system, thereby optimizing the capacity of the system -- one of the key innovations that makes CDMA a viable and highly efficient commercial cellular technology. The Korean Intellectual Property Office rejected the opposition and maintained the patent in its entirety.
In the second Korean matter, on January 4, 2001, the Korean Intellectual Property Office rejected an opposition against QUALCOMM's Korean patent 204,160, ``Method and Apparatus for the Formatting of Data for Transmission.'' All claims of the patent were confirmed. The patent describes a method and apparatus for the formatting of data for transmission, an invention also essential to many CDMA systems.
In a decision dated December 5, 2000, the European Patent Office confirmed the validity of all claims of QUALCOMM's European patent 624,275. The patent, entitled ``Method and System for the Arrangement of Vocoder Data for the Masking of Transmission Channel Induced Error,'' discloses a processor used in CDMA receivers to normalize incoming blocks of data.
``We are pleased that our patents continue to be upheld by patent offices worldwide, demonstrating the strength and necessity of QUALCOMM's CDMA patent portfolio,'' remarked Ben Miller, chief patent strategist for QUALCOMM. ``The opposition process is a fairly common part of patent practice abroad that allows any party to challenge whether an issued patent truly represents a patentable advance over the prior art. Patents that emerge intact from these challenges are stronger and more valuable.''
In a separate release, SnapTrack, Inc., pioneer of Wireless Assisted GPS(TM) location systems and a wholly owned subsidiary of QUALCOMM, announced today the award of a broad-based wireless location and asset-tracking patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
biz.yahoo.com |
