Maxim Integrated Products Inc. said it has filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm Inc. for misusing its dominance in the CDMA market to snuff out the competition.
“Maxim’s claim states that Qualcomm has violated U.S. antitrust laws and has misused its patents in maintaining dominance in the market for CDMA technology by improperly seeking to exclude competition,” said Maxim.
Qualcomm had filed a suit against Maxim in 2002, alleging that the Sunnyvale, Calif., chipmaker infringed the CDMA proprietor’s patents in the areas of transmission, reception and processing of radio signals.
Qualcomm has had to jealously guard what it regards as its patents, and this has triggered a series of lawsuits and disputes with a variety of players in the industry in North America, Europe and Asia.
The new lawsuit was filed in San Diego.
In other news, Qualcomm said it plans to locate a new software development center in Hyderabad, India, a move that will attract 100 jobs.
“The upcoming Hyderabad software complex will be involved in writing software that goes into Qualcomm’s CDMA chipsets, which run all CDMA handsets worldwide,” said Irwin Jacobs, Qualcomm’s chief executive officer.
