Broadcom notches another win against Qualcomm: Appeals court ruling favors Broadcom in patent infringement

Broadcom Corp. has won what may be the final round in its patent infringement case it filed three years ago against Qualcomm Inc.
In a ruling Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a unanimous jury verdict, from May 2007, that found Qualcomm cellular chips and software infringe on two Broadcom patents. The jury awarded Broadcom $19.6 million in damages. The appeals court ruled a third patent to be invalid.
“The appeals court’s ruling is a major victory for Broadcom in our ongoing effort to protect our intellectual property,” David Rosmann, Broadcom VP of intellectual property litigation, said in a press statement.
Broadcom filed the lawsuit against Qualcomm in May 2005 claiming Qualcomm’s technology infringed on three patents regarding EV-DO technology, QChat chips and software and video processing.
The appellate court affirmed that Qualcomm’s technology regarding the cellular chips and the EV-DO technology infringe upon Broadcom patents. The court ruled that the patent regarding video processing is invalid.
A Qualcomm executive expressed mixed feelings on the ruling.
Alex Rogers, Qualcomm’s senior VP and legal counsel, said the company is pleased that one of the patents was ruled invalid.
“We are obviously disappointed with the courts ruling on the (other two) patents, but we developed workaround designs and we will continue to move forward with those,” he said.
Broadcom’s stock was up slightly after the ruling to around $20 per share. Qualcomm’s stock was also up slightly to around $47 per share.
Widespread litigation
The Santa Ana, Calif., case is one of many cases the two competitors are battling over regarding patent infringement, anti-competitive behavior and fraud issues. Broadcom said Qualcomm has either lost or withdrawn all of the patent infringement cases it has brought against the company.
The appeals court’s ruling comes about a month after U.S. District Judge James V. Selna found Qualcomm in contempt of an injunction he issued late last year. The injunction was designed to stop Qualcomm from continuing its infringement of the three Broadcom patents.
Selna found Qualcomm in contempt for failing to pay royalties to Broadcom for infringing on QChat products. Selna ordered Qualcomm to pay Broadcom the gross profits Qualcomm earned on its infringing QChat products and legal fees in connection with the contempt proceedings.