Legal News

Qualcomm cited for contempt

By Jason Siegel

A federal judge in Los Angeles cited Qualcomm Inc. for contempt of an injunction issued in December to block infringement of four patents for 3G Cellular and Push-to-Talk products owned by Broadcom Corp.

U.S. District Judge James V. Selna issued a one-paragraph online order Aug. 28 that found Qualcomm violated his December injunction by continuing to use and support the WCDMA chips that were found to infringe Broadcom's patent.

The order also found Qualcomm failed to pay royalties to Broadcom on QChat products that were infringed.

Selna ordered an immediate cease to the violations and ordered Qualcomm to pay Broadcom the gross profits Qualcomm has earned on its infringing QChat products, Broadcom Corp. v. Qualcomm Inc., 05-cv-467JVS.

In addition, he ordered payment of attorney fees to Broadcom.

The dispute stems from a suit filed in 2005 by Broadcom, a leading semiconductor maker for wired and wireless communications. In 2007, a jury found Qualcomm infringed three Broadcom patents and awarded $19.64 million in damages for past infringement.

Selna's Thursday order reserved a determination on whether Qualcomm should be held in contempt for post-injunction offers to sell infringing chips.

Qualcomm must provide the court with an accounting of revenues and gross profits on one of the patents and make payment within 30 days or face automatic lapse of the license.

"Qualcomm's conduct demonstrates a startling lack of respect for its competitors' intellectual property, industry standards-setting processes, and the courts," said David Rosmann, Broadcom's vice president of intellectual property in a prepared statement.

Qualcomm attorney William Abrams, of Bingham McCutchen in Palo Alto, Calif., was not immediately available for comment.

-- Pamela A. MacLean

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on September 02, 2008 (boomark / email).