Broadcom Claims Qualcomm's Licensing Practices Violate U.S. Law

Broadcom has fired yet another salvo in its ongoing patent battles with Qualcomm and says that it has filed a complaint seeking a declaratory judgment that the sales and licensing practices of Qualcomm amount to patent misuse, that Qualcomm patents are "exhausted" by Qualcomm's practices, and that Qualcomm's patents and patent licenses are unenforceable, under applicable U.S. law.

The complaint, filed yesterday in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California in San Diego, asserts, among other things, that Qualcomm's use of "exhausted" patents to control post-sale use of products in the wireless communications industry results in a double recovery of royalties (or other consideration) to Qualcomm for the use of its patents.

It further asserts that these practices constitute patent misuse that has brought Qualcomm a financial windfall and brought harm to the industry and consumers.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled on the scope of the patent exhaustion doctrine in Quanta Computer v. LG Electronics.

Posted to the site on 8th October 2008