President Bush Not Interested In Getting Involved In Qualcomm/Broadcom Patent Fight

from the leave-me-out-of-this dept

Back in June, Broadcom used a bit of a loophole to get Qualcomm in trouble over patents. Rather than just going the traditional court route, Broadcom had the International Trade Commission simply decide that Qualcomm infringed on Broadcom patents, and bar the import of certain next generation Qualcomm chips. While Qualcomm will still appeal the decision in court, it also appealed directly to President Bush. It would appear the President has more important things to do with his time than get involved in a pointless patent battle, as he's decided to allow the ban to stand. Once again, expect many more companies to start going to the International Trade Commission as a way of getting around court rulings that have been a lot less kind to bogus patents lately. In the meantime, Qualcomm claims it has a workaround to avoid infringing on the patent, but somehow we expect Broadcom won't be satisfied.

Filed Under: patents, president bush
Companies: broadcom, qualcomm

Verizon Can't Wait For Courts To Sort Out Broadcom/Qualcomm Suit -- Pays Off Broadcom Itself

from the why-your-phones-may-be-more-expensive dept

We've covered the somewhat ridiculous patent lawsuit between Qualcomm and Broadcom that has gone on for quite some time (and still has a ways to go). Broadcom convinced the US International Trade Commission to ban the import of next generation Qualcomm chips (while still letting current chip technology be imported). That gave Qualcomm some time to fight the ban, but it clearly worried some of Qualcomm's customers. One of Qualcomm's largest customers, Verizon Wireless, apparently has decided that it doesn't like the uncertainty over all of this and is paying a license to Broadcom itself on the chips, effectively paying the patent licensing fee that Qualcomm is fighting, just in case Qualcomm loses. Still, it's pretty expensive ($6 per phone) and it likely means that Verizon Wireless phones will be more expensive even though the legal process hasn't yet run its course. Of course, Broadcom could also turn around and claim that both Qualcomm and Verizon Wireless should need to pay the license (which is quite common in patent suits of this nature), meaning that this might not even take Qualcomm off the hook for the Verizon Wireless phones.

Filed Under: patents
Companies: broadcom, qualcomm, verizon