Qualcomm may begin to rue its lawsuits

Broadcom appeared before the US International Trade Commission and asked for a ban on mobile phones which incorporate Qualcomm's chips. The reason being that it has apparently convinced the Commission that one of its own patents is being infringed.

The patent involves technology that helps conserve cell phone battery power when the handset is operating in W-CDMA or EV-DO modes. The judge initially suggested just banning the relevant Qualcomm chips but Broadcom argues that it is the handsets that contain them that should be barred.

Qualcomm's responses are mind-boggling. The company's lawyer, Cecilia Gonzalez, argued, "They [Broadcom] don't compete in this [handset chips]. They're not there yet." She seems to be implying that because the opposition doesn't sell many chips, the infringement doesn't matter.

Stranger still are the arguments put forward by Verizon in Qualcomm's favour. Scott McGregor, Broadcom's CEO, claimed the firm was "implying that the infringement is too big, too widespread, and too profitable to stop."

One of the other arguments is that emergency forces are using EV-DO phones and to stop them doing so would be dangerous? Eh? What are the emergency forces doing using regular cellphones?

In a completely separate case, Qualcomm has been cleared of "inequitable conduct" in obtaining two patents regarding the H.264 video standard. Qualcomm is claiming Broadcom is infringing its patents over H.264 provision.

But the US Patent Office also said that Qualcomm did not meet the "unwritten IPR disclosure expectations" of the relevant standard-setting group. In other words, the Joint Video team (JVT) wasn't aware that the standard it was agreeing included Qualcomm's patents.

Qualcomm is complaining that this decision is "unfair" since it can't guess what it should disclose. How about all its patents that might be affected?

Nokia must be watching all of this and chuckling. It is using the same kind of defences which Qualcomm has displayed against Broadcom against Qualcomm in Europe.

We're a bit puzzled as to why Broadcom and Qualcomm have bothered to announce they are dropping some piddling little cases against each other in San Diego when they're obviously still going hammer and tongs against each other elsewhere. µ

See Also
Nokia counter-attacks Qualcomm in EU courts
Nokia's claim is "entirely meritless" says Qualcomm