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Qualcomm/Broadcom Legal Brawl UpdateTMCnet Contributing Editor Qualcomm Inc. just hit Broadcom Corp. with a lawsuit for alleged trade secret misappropriation and patent infringement. The move follows Broadcom's filing two complaints in the United States District Court against Qualcomm (News - Alert) for alleged patent infringement back in May 2005.
The complaint, filed in federal court in San Diego, Calif., charges Broadcom (News - Alert) with misappropriating trade secrets relating to Qualcomm's development and marketing of WCDMA baseband integrated circuit products and the multimedia capabilities of these products. Qualcomm claims that Broadcom has used the misappropriated trade secrets to compete unfairly with the company for the sale of WCDMA chipsets. Qualcomm asked the federal judge to put a halt to Broadcom from producing the chips.
The complaint also accuses Broadcom of infringing Qualcomm's U.S. Patent number 6,717,908 through its manufacture and sale of WCDMA and wireless local area network chipsets.
The new lawsuit is the third intellectual property infringement case brought by Qualcomm against Broadcom. To date, Qualcomm has asserted infringement by Broadcom of ten Qualcomm patents. The first trial is scheduled to occur in January 2007.
Legal problems between Qualcomm and Broadcom started back in May 2005 when Broadcom began federal litigation against Qualcomm for alleged patent infringement. Broadcom claimed that Qualcomm infringed the company's patents related to wired and wireless communications and multimedia processing technologies.
With the filing of the two complaints in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Broadcom sought unspecified monetary damages from Qualcomm as well as a permanent injunction barring the manufacture and sale of Qualcomm's core suite of baseband and RF integrated circuits, including its multimedia, enhanced and convergence platform chips and its QChat VoIP technology for cellular phones, which Broadcom alleges infringe its patents.
In addition to the complaints explained above, Broadcom also filed a complaint with the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) alleging that Qualcomm engaged in unfair trade practices by importing integrated circuits and other products that infringed five Broadcom patents. The company requested that the ITC institute an investigation into Qualcomm's infringing imports and ultimately issue an Exclusion Order to bar importation of those Qualcomm devices into the United States. Broadcom also sought a Cease and Desist Order to bar further sales of infringing Qualcomm products that had already been imported.
QUALCOMM Incorporated
Broadcom Corporation
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Johanne Torres is contributing editor for TMCnet and Internet Telephony magazine. To see more articles by Johanne Torres, please visit Johanne Torres' columnist page.
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