Qualcomm, Broadcom Settle Some Patent Disputes
Qualcomm and Broadcom withdrew several key patent complaints among many the wireless-chip makers have filed against one another in recent years, the companies said late last week. The compromise means dismissal of 2 federal court cases in San Diego, one set to go to trial next week. Other cases between the companies aren’t affected. Meanwhile, Qualcomm said that earlier this month a federal judge in Tex. dismissed an antitrust suit against it and other major companies by small vendor Golden Bridge Technology.
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In withdrawing their respective complaints, Broadcom and Qualcomm seek dismissal of all claims and counterclaims involving 2 patents belonging to each. Broadcom’s complaint concerned Bluetooth technology for mobile devices. Qualcomm’s claims were over U.S. patent numbers 5,655,220 and 5,778,338, also for wireless technology. The withdrawals are “with prejudice,” so the claims can’t be refiled. The companies didn’t disclose whether their agreement had other terms.
There’s still plenty of court activity between the companies. Broadcom has 12 other patent claims against Qualcomm, and San Diego-based Qualcomm has 6 more against Broadcom. In recent decisions, each company has prevailed over the other. Last week, the International Trade Commission in Europe set a March public hearing to determine penalties against Qualcomm for infringing a Broadcom battery- power conservation patent (CD Feb 14 p8). In Sept., a federal court in N.J. threw out a Broadcom antitrust suit against Qualcomm. And in Oct., a federal judge in San Diego enjoined Broadcom from using, selling or distributing Qualcomm-owned trade secrets or source code (CD Oct 31 p3), prompting a dispute over the order’s meaning.
The U.S. Dist. Court, Tyler, Tex., last week dismissed Golden Bridge’s antitrust suit against Qualcomm, Ericsson, Lucent, Motorola, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo and Panasonic, Qualcomm announced Fri. GBT alleged that the defendants conspired to exclude its technology from a 3GPP wireless standard.