Qualcomm Inc. announced the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California has lifted a temporary restraining order that barred the company from commercially producing and selling its Q phone.
The court also denied a preliminary injunction requested by Motorola Inc. which has claimed Qualcomm’s Q phone infringes Motorola patents by copying the design of the StarTac wearable cellular phone.
Qualcomm said it is immediately resuming production of the 1900 MHz Code Division Multiple Access phone.
The court found significant differences between the Qualcomm Q phone and the design of the Motorola StarTac phone, and that Motorola had no likelihood of success on the merits of its claims of design patent or trade dress infringement, said Qualcomm.
Qualcomm said the court noted that the “Q phone presents a sleeker, streamlined appearance” as compared with the “box-like appearance” of the StarTac design patent, and said Motorola is not entitled to monopolize a functional shape like a clamshell phone.
The court also referred to the apparent taking of Qualcomm’s proprietary information by Motorola, saying it “takes a dim view of the actions of Motorola in handling this situation.”
Motorola stated, “In his decision, Judge Napolean Jones also cited an action of a Motorola engineer who `… took a piece of the Q phone telephone housing from a desk of Shieldmate Robotics, without their knowledge or permission.’ Though the misconduct was unknown to and had no bearing upon those who prepared our lawsuit against Qualcomm and Shieldmate, we regret very deeply that any Motorola employee would behave in such a manner. We regret further that his immediate supervisors failed to take appropriate action when they later learned of what he had done.” Motorola apologized to the court and to Shieldmate. The people involved have been suspended until further appropriate disciplinary action is determined, said Motorola.
“But make no mistake, neither the judge’s decision nor this individual’s mistake changes our belief that Qualcomm is trying to sell a StarTac copycat phone. Our intellectual property was blatantly misappropriated, and we will continue to pursue our case with undiminished energy,” Motorola said.
Qualcomm noted that the court’s ruling is only a preliminary determination pending trial or possible appeal. The court will set a trial date, anticipated by the company to be some time next year.
Motorola filed a patent infringement lawsuit last month in federal court against Qualcomm. The mayhem began when Motorola executives saw the Q phone for the first time at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association’s Wireless ’97 show in March.
