A U.S. District Court sided with Qualcomm Inc. in its fight against a northern California technology company accused of infringing on technology patents, the chipmaker said Tuesday.
The court issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting Maxim Integrated Products Inc. from using Qualcomm trade secrets, but stopped short of granting the technology giant’s request for a further injunction barring Maxim’s sale of two specific chip lines for a year.
Litigation between the two companies began in December 2002 when Qualcomm filed suit charging Maxim for infringing four patents relating to RF chips for wireless products. Maxim responded last year by filing an antitrust suit against the chipmaker.
Qualcomm said the court issued a statement decrying “a course of past conduct by Maxim that is predatory, wrongful and in violation of the laws of the State of California.”
“We appreciate the court’s swift action to prevent further injury to Qualcomm and to limit Maxim’s competitive use of Qualcomm’s confidential information that Maxim has obtained by its unfair practices,” said Louis Lupin, Qualcomm’s senior vice president and general counsel.
