California Jury Finds In Favour Of Broadcom In Patent Dispute

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

31 May 2007

A California jury on Tuesday awarded another victory to semiconductor manufacturer, Broadcom, when it ruled that rival firm Qualcomm had infringed on several of its patents.

The dispute between the two firms is a long-running and complicated one, and late last year, an United States International Trade Commission (ITC) judge found in Broadcom's favour, following which the US Patent and Trademark Office stated that it would reexamine the validity of one of the patents Broadcom had asserted against Qualcomm.

In a statement released on Tuesday pertaining to the most recent decision, Broadcom announced that:

"Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, announced that a unanimous federal jury today found that certain Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM) cellular baseband chips and software infringe claims of three Broadcom patents, and awarded Broadcom $19.64 million in damages for Qualcomm's past infringement."

According to Broadcom, the jury sitting in US District Court in Santa Ana, California also found that the three patents were valid and that Qualcomm's infringement was "willful", allowing the court to increase the damages up to three times the amount awarded by the jury.

Broadcom has further revealed that it plans to ask the court to issue a permanent injunction barring Qualcomm from further infringement of the three patents.

"We are very pleased with the jury's verdict, and gratified that the jurors were able to absorb and evaluate very technical material and arrive at the conclusion that Qualcomm once again is improperly utilizing our patented technology covering cellular baseband solutions," stated David A. Dull, Broadcom's Senior Vice President and General Counsel.

He continued:

"Broadcom was an early pioneer in a broad range of wired and wireless communications and multimedia technologies, which are at the heart of the convergence and communications trends that are touching consumers in their daily lives. Broadcom's patents are our company's lifeblood, representing substantial financial investment and the hard work and innovations of our engineers around the world. We are heartened that the legal system has provided redress for Qualcomm's infringing behavior."

The three patents in question were:

• US Patent No. 5,657,317, which relates generally to simultaneous participation on two networks using a single transceiver.
• US Patent No. 6,847,686, which relates generally to a chip architecture for performing video processing.
• US Patent No. 6,389,010, which relates generally to a phone that may be used to place calls over fixed or variable bandwidth networks.

Responding to the verdict, Lou Lupin, executive vice president and general counsel of Qualcomm announced that:

“We continue to believe that none of the Broadcom patent claims are valid or were infringed by QUALCOMM, and we will challenge the jury’s findings of infringement, validity and willfulness in post-trial motions and on appeal if necessary.”

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