Electronic News has reported that Broadcom scored a legal victory in the final hours of 2007, when a federal judge issued an injunction prohibiting Qualcomm from making, using, and selling certain chipsets and software that infringe three Broadcom patents.

As ordered by U.S. District Court Judge James V. Selna, Qualcomm products using the WCDMA and EV-DO products are enjoined outright, while legacy EV-DO products offered before May 29, 2007 may ship until January 31, 2009, with royalties paid to Broadcom.

Specifically, the ruling will impact Qualcomm 3G WCDMA and EV-DO chips in its "Enhanced Multimedia" and "Convergence" platforms, as well as its QChat "push-to-talk" software.

A Santa Ana, Calif., federal jury ruled on the infringement in May 2007, awarding Broadcom $19.64 million in damages.

Broadcom had originally filed the lawsuit in 2005, alleging that five of its patents had been infringed. During the course of the litigation, Broadcom dismissed one patent, and the court stayed the case with respect to a second patent.

"We are very pleased with [the] ruling, which addresses Qualcomm's improper use of our patented technology covering cellular chips and software for advanced consumer devices," said David A. Dull, Broadcom's senior VP and general counsel, in a statement Monday. "Broadcom should not have to compete against companies that use Broadcom's own patented technology against us, and this injunction puts a stop to Qualcomm doing just that."

Qualcomm said it is attempting to “obtain further relief and clarity” from the courts on certain aspects of the order, and warned that “the inability to obtain such relief will likely have an immediate, short-term impact as handset customers transition to new designs for WCDMA products".

The company said that it is evaluating its options, including seeking stays and appeals, and that it will comply with all directives and orders of the court.

Wall Street watchers at Lehman Brothers noted that the ruling relates to the U.S. market only and would not impact key WCDMA/CDMA -DO markets such as Europe, Korea, Japan and India.

The firm also said that while Qualcomm will use the 13 month period of royalty payments to continue to develop its work-around solutions, such solutions may be challenging and the injunction on new EV-DO products may impact Qualcomm’s ability to introduce new offerings and secure new customers.

The patent case is just one of many legal battles the two communications companies are involved in.
 
“We believe the ruling may ultimately lead both parties to seek a settlement in their long standing litigation,” Lehman concluded.

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