Qualcomm: $1B lawsuit is ‘baseless’: Gabriel Technologies claims patent infringement by chipmaker

Billion-dollar lawsuits still raise some eyebrows, but not at Qualcomm Inc. this week.
Gabriel Technologies Corp. said Monday it had filed suit against the San Diego-based chip and IP-licensing company in federal court in San Diego alleging patent infringement and misappropriation of technology, and asked for more than $1 billion in damages.
“We have been aware of these baseless claims for some time and have rejected them,” Qualcomm said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
Gabriel Technologies, based in Omaha, Neb., alleged that Qualcomm infringed on assisted-GPS patents belonging to the plaintiff as the latter acquired SnapTrack Inc. in 2000.
According to the plaintiff, Qualcomm and SnapTrack misappropriated intellectual property developed under a joint development agreement with Locate Networks Inc. That IP belonged to Trace Technologies L.L.C., a subsidiary of Gabriel Technologies, according to the complaint. Trace is party to Gabriel Technologies’ lawsuit, which names Qualcomm and SnapTrack’s former VP for technology, Norman Krasner, as defendants.
The complaint alleged that Qualcomm falsely claimed ownership of 90 patents.
Gabriel Technologies is focused on asset tracking and physical security for the transportation and shipping industries.