Broadcom wins injunction against Qualcomm
By Robert Daniel, MarketWatch
Last update: 6:49 a.m. EST Jan. 2, 2008
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TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Qualcomm Inc. warned Wednesday that it expects an "immediate, short-term impact" to result from a federal court's ruling that it must stop producing and marketing cellular-phone chipsets and software that infringe three Broadcom Corp. patents.
QCOM 39.35, 0.00, 0.0%) didn't specify the impact in a statement. The company also said it's assessing its legal options, including appeals.
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U.S. District Judge James Selna in Santa Ana, Calif., on Dec. 31 issued an injunction against Qualcomm, Broadcom (BRCM:
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Broadcom brought the case in May 2005. Two years later, a jury found that Qualcomm had infringed three Broadcom patents and awarded $19.6 million of damages.
Broadcom, the Irvine, Calif., producer of semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, and Qualcomm, producer of digital-communication technologies, have been locked in a prolonged legal struggle over their products.
The latest order prohibits Qualcomm from using Broadcom's technology that enables a wireless handset to work simultaneously over two or more networks, and Broadcom's technology designed for push-to-talk functionality, which enables a handset to work like a walkie-talkie.
The order also enables Qualcomm to use certain Broadcom video-processing chips if it pays royalties, Broadcom said.
Qualcomm said it's developing workaround solutions for two of the patents in question, covering simultaneous-network-access and push-to-talk technologies.
For products infringing Broadcom's video-encoding patent, Qualcomm unveiled new chips and said it expects to have hardware and software workarounds available in the first quarter. End of Story |
