IPR Matters: Broadcom v. QUALCOM & QUALCOMM v. Broadcom
Progress towards Settlement?
>> Dismissal Eliminates All Remaining Jury Trials Scheduled for San Diego
QUALCOMM Press Release
San Diego
March 16, 2007
qualcomm.com
QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM) today announced an agreement with Broadcom to dismiss without prejudice all patent-related claims and counterclaims, and to dismiss with prejudice all trade secret misappropriation claims asserted by either party in two lawsuits that were pending in San Diego Federal Court (Case Nos. 05 CV 1392 and 05 CV 0660). Among the claims being dismissed are claims of patent infringement under six Broadcom patents and under four QUALCOMM patents, and claims by each party that the other had misappropriated its trade secrets. The remaining patent infringement claims between the parties in federal courts in Orange County, Calif. and in the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) are unaffected by the agreement. The dismissal of the patent and trade secret misappropriation claims eliminates the need for five separate jury trials scheduled throughout 2007, the first of which had been scheduled to begin on March 19, 2007. ###
>> Qualcomm Dismisses Remaining Cases Against Broadcom: In Turn, Broadcom Dismisses San Diego-based Counterclaims, but Proceeds With Cases Against Qualcomm in All Other Venues
Irvine, CA
March 16, 2007
broadcom.com
Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced that Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM) has agreed to dismiss all remaining cases initiated by Qualcomm and awaiting trial against Broadcom including Qualcomm's claims of patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation in San Diego.
In turn, Broadcom dismissed its counterclaims against Qualcomm in those San Diego cases.
Broadcom's claims of patent infringement against Qualcomm in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, Calif. and in the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in Washington, D.C., and Broadcom's antitrust claim against Qualcomm, which is on appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, are not affected by the dismissals in San Diego, and will continue forward.
The remaining Broadcom patent cases against Qualcomm are:
* The patent infringement action in the International Trade Commission in which a remedy hearing regarding Qualcomm's infringement of a Broadcom patent will proceed as scheduled on March 21 and 22 in Washington, D.C.
* A U.S. District Court case in Santa Ana in which Broadcom alleges that Qualcomm infringes three Broadcom patents which will go to trial in May 2007.
The remaining Qualcomm case against Broadcom is a U.S. District Court case in San Diego in which Qualcomm alleged that Broadcom infringed two patents relating to video compression. In January, a unanimous jury found that Broadcom did not infringe the patents and recommended findings that Qualcomm committed inequitable conduct and standards abuse. The parties are awaiting the court's final ruling on those issues.
Broadcom currently has six patents in suit against Qualcomm in Santa Ana (including a stayed case on three patents pending in the ITC). ###
Whats's Left?
Broadcom's press release on the subject is certainly clearer than QUALCOMM's.
This is a summary of the various actions that QUALCOMM and Broadcom have filed against each other and they are abstracted from QUALCOMM's latest 10K and their latest 10Q filing with the SEC, and I've added latest staus in brackets.
US District Court for the Central District and Southern District of California
Broadcom Corporation v. QUALCOMM Incorporated:
• May 18, 2005: Broadcom filed two actions in the United States District Court for the Central District of California against QUALCOMM alleging infringement of ten patents and seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief based thereon. On December 12, 2005, the Central District Court ordered two of the Broadcom patent claims filed in the other Central District patent action (which is stayed pending completion of the ITC action) to be transferred to the Southern District of California to be considered in the case filed by QUALCOMM on August 22, 2005. That case now contains additional related claims filed by QUALCOMM and Broadcom.
QUALCOMM Incorporated v. Broadcom Corporation
• July 11, 2005: QUALCOMM filed an action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California against Broadcom alleging infringement of seven patents, each of which is essential to the practice of either the GSM or 802.11 standards, and seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief based thereon. On September 23, 2005, Broadcom answered and counterclaimed, alleging infringement of six patents.
• October 14, 2005: QUALCOMM filed another action in the United States District Court
for the Southern District of California against Broadcom alleging infringement of two patents, each of which relates to video encoding and decoding for high-end multimedia processing, and seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief based thereon. That action began trial on January 9, 2007. [The jury returned a verdict in favor of Broadcom and the parties are awaiting the court's final ruling on the verdict and remaining issues.].
• March 24, 2006: QUALCOMM filed another action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, alleging that Broadcom, during the period in which it has been attempting to bring to market a WCDMA baseband solution, misappropriated our confidential and trade secret information relating to our WCDMA baseband chips, and relating to our multimedia capabilities for such chips. The complaint also asserts another patent claim against Broadcom's wireless local area network products, including such capability bundled with Broadcom's WCDMA product offerings. Broadcom counterclaimed with the assertion of two patents. On October 27, 2006, the Court issued a preliminary injunction against Broadcom, prohibiting the future use or solicitation of certain of QUALCOMM's confidential business and technical documents and information.
[The U.S. District Court case in Santa Ana [CA Central District] in which Broadcom alleges that Qualcomm infringes three Broadcom patents will go to trial in May 2007]
The United States International Trade Commission (ITC)
Broadcom Corporation v. QUALCOMM Incorporated:
• May 18, 2005: Broadcom filed a complaint in the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) alleging infringement of five of the same patents at issue in the Central District Court cases seeking a determination and relief under Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930. Discovery is underway in one of the Central District Court patent actions, with trial scheduled for May 2007. On February 14, 2006, the ITC hearing commenced as to three of the patents alleged. On October 10, 2006, the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) issued an interim decision in which he recommended against downstream remedies, and found no infringement by us on two of the three remaining patents and most of the asserted claims of the third patent. The ALJ did find infringement on some claims of one patent. ... The ALJ did not recommend excluding chips accused by Broadcom but, instead, recommended a limited exclusion order directed only to a certain combination of chips that are already programmed with a specific software module. The Commission has adopted the ALJ's initial determination on violation and will issue [was scheduled to issue] its decision on remedy on March 8, 2007. The final determination is then subject to Presidential review.
[This action continues forward. The next step is a remedy hearing regarding Qualcomm's infringement of a Broadcom patent currently scheduleded for March 21 and 22. Any final determination is then subject to Presidential review.]
United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
Broadcom Corporation v. QUALCOMM Incorporated:
• July 1, 2005: Broadcom filed an action in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey against QUALCOMM alleging violations of state and federal antitrust and unfair competition laws as well as common law claims, generally relating to licensing and chip sales activities, seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief based thereon. On September 1, 2006, the New Jersey District Court dismissed the complaint; Broadcom filed notice of appeal, and Broadcom's antitrust claim against Qualcomm, [and are currently on appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. This action continues forward].
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- Eric - |
