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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dave who wrote (11471)	6/16/1998 8:40:00 PM
From: JGoren	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 152472

You don't recall ery much about the MOT suit against QCOM regarding trade dress between StarTac and the Q phone. The judge's written opinion on the request for a temporary injunction went a lot farther than he had to in order to deny the injunction. He easily could have denied the injunction on the basis that MOT had an adequate remedy at law, that is, money damages. He did not do that. Instead, the judge said that the Q was distinctive in several respects. As I remember it, the opinion basically indicated that the Q was a better or more attractive design, if anything. In other words, MOT didn't make it to first base on the issue on its basic claim of trade dress infringement.. I fail to see how MOT can show damages because the two products do not really compete with each other--one being CDMA and the other analog. They compete with other, more traditionally designed phones within their platforms. If MOT had had a CDMA StarTac phone in the market at the time, it might have lost some sales. I simply don't think consumers decide between the two products based on looks. They first decide which technology or cell phone provider they are going to use; that of course determines the technology platform. Then they decide on the phone which has the features they need, and lastly pick the one that suits their taste looks-wise. Why, in the world, is this subject coming up now. I thought we put it to bed back when the judge issued such a strong opinion denying the injunction.