Apparently irritated over a dispute that has lasted more than two years, Qualcomm Inc. is suing Motorola Inc., asking the court to terminate Code Division Multiple Access licenses granted to Motorola under a patent license agreement.
“While we have still not yet had adequate time to examine the complaint, what we have seen thus far appears to be groundless,” said a Motorola spokesman. “There appears to be nothing new in these allegations, and in fact, they appear to be nothing more than a rehash of the same issues that have been in litigation for more than two years. We are confident they will not be allowed to terminate our patent licensing agreement.”
The dispute between the two companies began in February 1997, when Qualcomm introduced its Q phone series at a Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association trade show. Motorola claimed the new CDMA handset violated Motorola’s patents because it copied the basic look and functions of its StarTac wearable phone. The case still is pending in a San Diego court and was expanded to include several consolidated cases for patent and trade dress infringement. A pretrial conference is set for December. Qualcomm claims the lawsuit breaches the patent agreement between the two companies.
Qualcomm also claims Motorola is obligated to license patents the Schaumburg, Ill., company licensed from Telular that are technically or commercially necessary to make and sell wireless local loop products using CDMA technology. Qualcomm claims Motorola has repeatedly refused to grant it a sublicense to the Telular patents. Telular could not be reached for comment by RCR press time.
