Qualcomm Inc. apparently got some breathing room-how much, if any, remains to be seen-in its ongoing court battle over patent infringement in a Santa Ana, Calif., federal court with rival Broadcom Corp.
Broadcom took a round in August when the jury found that Qualcomm had willfully infringed on three of Broadcom patents pertaining to video compression and the judge ordered Qualcomm to pay Broadcom double the $19.6 million in damages awarded in the case. A finding of “willfulness” allowed for the double damages.
Defining “willful”
But during the trial proceedings, a decision by a federal appeals court in an unrelated patentinfringement case essentially raised the bar for findings of willful infringement. The judge in Santa Ana has asked both companies to file arguments addressing how the precedent-setting decision on willful infringement should affect their case, particularly in terms of damages.
Qualcomm is arguing that because of that precedent, the entire Santa Ana trial results should be voided and the case retried.
Broadcom is arguing that the results should stand and the case should proceed to the injunction phase, where it will press to block Qualcomm from selling the offending chips. Attorneys for both companies spoke on background about the developments.
The matter is of broader importance to the two sides, which are sparring over a possible cross-licensing agreement that includes wireless patents. Every court case between the two, regardless of technology, figures in the two companies’ respective bargaining power to reach that over-arching agreement.
Broadcom was scheduled to file its argument last Friday and Qualcomm is expected to respond by Oct. 26. The judge set the week beginning Oct. 29 for his decision on the damages question-though the judge may also order a new trial-and then, possibly, may decide on Broadcom’s request for an injunction barring the sale of Qualcomm’s offending chips.
Nokia/Qualcomm
In related news, last week an administrative law judge for the U.S. International Trade Commission announced that he would recommend terminating the U.S. ITC investigation into Qualcomm’s alleged infringement of Nokia Corp.’s GSM/W-CDMA and CDMA2000 technology.
The termination was based solely on the fact that the two sides are engaged in arbitration in the matter, rather than on the merits of Nokia’s allegations, the latter company said.
