Qualcomm Wins Patent Dispute with Broadcom

Qualcomm has announced that the United States District Court for the Southern District of California granted its motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Broadcom seeking a declaration that Qualcomm's patents are exhausted and unenforceable.

Broadcom had tried to argue that Qualcomm was unfairly limiting competition by putting onerous conditions in its patent licensing terms. Broadcom tried to sugges that Qualcomm's policy of only permitting sales of licensed chips to handset vendors which also held Qualcomm patent licenses was anti-competitive

U.S. District Court Judge William Q. Hayes held that Broadcom failed to show it was entitled to declaratory relief because it did not identify any specific patents which were allegedly exhausted, or an exhaustion triggering sale or license. The court also ruled that Broadcom's purported injuries were too speculative to support the claims alleged.

Broadcom has a separate patent lawsuit pending against Qualcomm in the same district court. The case, filed in 2008, is Broadcom v. Qualcomm, Case No. 08cv1829 WQH.

Posted to the site on 16th March 2009