Appeals Court Affirms That Qualcomm Infringes Two Broadcom Patents

Broadcom has announced that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has upheld a unanimous jury verdict that Qualcomm has infringed two Broadcom patents, and upheld the injunction entered by the district court on those two patents. The appeals court also rejected Qualcomm's request for a new trial. The court ruled that a third patent was invalid.

"The appeals court's decision is a major victory for Broadcom in our ongoing effort to protect our intellectual property," said David Rosmann, Broadcom Vice President, Intellectual Property Litigation.

Broadcom filed the infringement case in May 2005 and last May, a unanimous jury returned a verdict finding that Qualcomm infringed three Broadcom patents and awarded past damages to Broadcom. Late last year, U.S. District Court Judge James V. Selna issued an injunction against Qualcomm designed to stop the company from continuing its infringement of the three Broadcom patents.

In August 2008, Judge Selna found Qualcomm in contempt of his injunction by, among other things, failing to pay royalties to Broadcom on infringing QChat products. Citing the "egregiousness" of Qualcomm's conduct, the court ordered Qualcomm to pay Broadcom the gross profits Qualcomm has earned on its infringing QChat products. Judge Selna further ordered Qualcomm to pay Broadcom's attorneys fees in connection with the contempt proceedings.

The two patents that the appeals court upheld are U.S. Patent No. 5,657,317, which the jury found infringed by Qualcomm's EV-DO technology, and U.S. Patent No. 6,389,010, which the jury found infringed by Qualcomm's QChat chips and software. The third patent, held invalid, is U.S. Patent No. 6,847,686, which relates to video processing technology.

Posted to the site on 24th September 2008