Qualcomm may have made its peace with Nokia, but it is still embroiled in a series of legal battles with Broadcom and has suffered a new setback.
US District Judge James Selna ruled Qualcomm was in contempt of an injunction on the use of Broadcom patents covering wireless technology, and that the CDMA giant was not paying royalties for one patent that is basic to QChat, the push to talk technology used by Sprint Nextel.
David Rosmann, VP of Broadcom’s intellectual property litigation, said in a statement: “Qualcomm’s conduct demonstrates a startling lack of respect for its competitors’ intellectual property, industry standards setting processes, and the courts.” Alex Rogers, legal counsel for Qualcomm, said the judge’s interpretation of the injunction was different from the company’s opinion but the company would comply immediately. “We are very disappointed with the ruling,” he said.
Qualcomm suffered a major legal defeat over Broadcom’s 3G patents and will now have to stop using the QChat-related technology as well as pay undisclosed damages and the gross profits from the infringing QChat products. The company will appeal, though the impact will be limited beyond the immediate payments, since Qualcomm has already worked with Sprint to develop workarounds, and newer products, including the carrier’s recently launched QChat phones, are not affected.