Sprint Nextel may be working around ITC ban on new 3G handsets: Qualcomm appears intent on legal vindication

Sprint Nextel Corp. may be testing a “work-around” software patch from Qualcomm Inc. to avoid a government ban on the importation of new 3G handset models with certain Qualcomm chips.
Qualcomm, meanwhile, is letting its network operator customers speak to the work-around issue, and publicly is pushing its two legal avenues to have the ban dropped.
The ban on the importation of 3G handset models issued by the United States International Trade Commission on June 7 is widely expected to have little or no material impacts on the affected handset vendors and network operators until the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter typically sees the most handset sales in the calendar year. The start of the fourth quarter, however, is only three months away. (The ban applies to new models of select handsets imported after June 7.)
That timeframe gives Qualcomm and its supporters on the issue precious time to pursue various avenues to avoid the ban’s effects.
Qualcomm has said it is working to provide its customers with a technical solution to the problem while emphasizing its commitment to the appeals process.
“We are looking at opportunities to design and implement new software,” said Qualcomm spokesperson Bella Alabanza, “but the acceptability of any new software is subject to operator and manufacturer acceptance, as well as legal challenges.”
For its part, Sprint Nextel is emphasizing its position in joining Qualcomm in asking for a presidential veto of the ITC’s ban on new 3G handset models containing the offending chip, according to Matt Sullivan, a Sprint Nextel spokesman.
Sullivan appeared to acknowledge that, as legal appeals grind on, the operator is testing a software patch that might avoid the use of a Broadcom Corp. patent at the heart of the ITC case.
“We’re working on legal challenges and all technical actions possible to prevent an ITC ban on new handsets,” Sullivan said.
Is Sprint Nextel testing a software patch from Qualcomm to work around the ITC ban?
“There’s no software patch free of technical, procedural and legal uncertainties,” Sullivan said.
“We are not discussing any potential plans beyond the legal stay/appeal process,” said a Verizon Wireless spokesperson.
AT&T Mobility was not immediately available to comment on the issue.
Both operators are expected to be affected by the ban.
The ITC has ruled that certain Qualcomm chips-both W-CDMA and CDMA2000 1x EV-DO-infringe on a power management-related patent held by Broadcom. Qualcomm is appealing the decision to the president, who can veto it through his trade representative, as well as through a federal court.
Qualcomm’s stance appeared to reflect a strong desire by the company’s management to seek legal vindication in the ITC case, for several reasons. A reversal of the ITC decision would clear up uncertainties over 3G-related business this holiday season for the nation’s top operators and several of the world’s top handset vendors as 3G handset sales ramp up. It could also save the company from the expense of a technical work-around.
But Qualcomm executives may also seek to reverse a perception that the two recent legal decisions against the company have tarnished its reputation for innovation and its commitment to an aggressive defense of its own intellectual property. Legal vindication would also preclude any settlement costs with Broadcom in the ITC case.
Sprint Nextel’s possible involvement in a software solution came to light earlier this week in a Reuters interview with a Sprint Nextel product manager, Brita Horton, who said that the operator had a working solution that would free the company from the ITC ban.
According to Sprint Nextel’s Sullivan, Horton had “spoken out of turn,” and was not authorized to address the issue.