Broadcom wins federal judge ruling against rival Qualcomm

Communications process vendor Broadcom seems to be on a suit-winning spree nowadays. Only days after it won a US International Trade Commission (ITC) ruling against GPS (Global Positioning System) chip maker SiRF for allegedly infringing six Broadcom patents, the company has won a federal judge ruling against the biggest chipmaker in the world Qualcomm.(See: Broadcom wins patent infringement case against SiRF)

US District Judge James Selna of the District Court for the Central District of California found that Qualcomm violated an injunction on use of chips for certain networks with high-speed Internet connections. He also ruled that Qualcomm was not paying royalties to Broadcom on phones with its QChat walkie-talkie feature.

''Qualcomm's conduct demonstrates a startling lack of respect for its competitors' intellectual property, industry standards-setting processes, and the courts,'' David Rosmann, Broadcom's vice president of intellectual-property litigation, said in a statement.

A jury found in May 2007 that San Diego-based Qualcomm violated patents on Broadcom technology to help cell phones process video and walkie-talkie conversations and hand off calls between different networks.

In July, Qualcomm urged an appeals court that specializes in patent law to overturn the verdict and the order that bans sales of certain chips and software that were the subject of the trial.

The court found that Qualcomm violated the injunction by continuing to service and support WCDMA products that were made and sold between the date of the trial verdict in May and the date the injunction first issued on 31 December, 2007.

Qualcomm interpreted the order as requiring it to pay royalties on such products and provided service and support in reliance on that interpretation. The court disagreed and a new accounting will require Broadcom to return the royalty payments.