[June 13, 2007] PATENT DISPUTE -- Cell Import Ban Looms Tweet (Information Week Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) The U.S. International Trade Commission last week issued a partial ban on imports of mobile phones containing Qualcomm chips. The action stems from an ongoing patent dispute between Qualcomm and rival Broadcom. In May, a federal court jury in California ruled that Qualcomm had infringed on three Broadcom patents and awarded Broadcom $19.6 million. The ITC order bars imports of new handsets or PDAs that contain Qualcomm chips or chipsets used in connecting to high-speed 3G networks. The ban doesn't apply to device models already available in the United States on or before June 7, the date of the commission's ruling. Barring a presidential veto, the order goes into effect in 60 days and will affect phones sold by AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA, and Verizon Wireless. Qualcomm and Broadcom have been locked in patent acrimony for months. The competitors started filing patent suits against each other after failing to reach a licensing agreement. http://informationweek.com/ Copyright 2007 CMP Media LLC. All rights reserved. Copyright 2007 CMP Media LLC [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]