By Susan Rush
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
As expected, Qualcomm is not taking Broadcom's latest lawsuit lightly. The CDMA pioneer has filed a complaint of its own in California, claiming Broadcom is infringing on seven of its patents.
The suit, filed in a San Diego federal court, alleges Broadcom is in violation of seven Qualcomm patents. The company says several of Broadcom's GSM/GPRS chips and Wi-Fi semiconductors infringe on its patents. Of the seven patent complaints, six are related to integrated circuits used in GSM handsets, according to Qualcomm.
Qualcomm is seeking unspecified monetary damages and an injunction to halt the sale of products related to the complaint.
Broadcom recently filed a suit claiming Qualcomm is in violation of U.S. antitrust laws. Specifically, the Broadcom suit alleges Qualcomm is abusing the wireless technology standards-setting process, has failed to meet its licensing technology commitments and is involved in anticompetitive practices in the cell phone and chipset sectors. Following the filing, Qualcomm called the charges "meritless" and said it would likely have no choice but to file a suit of its own.
"Our complaint, based upon our initial review of Broadcom's business, discloses that a number of Broadcom's major product lines infringe Qualcomm's patents," Qualcomm's general counsel, Louis Lupin, said in a prepared statement. Lupin went on to say that the company is examining Broadcom's other businesses.
Qualcomm's filing today is in response to the lawsuits that Broadcom filed against Qualcomm on May 18 alleging infringement of 10 Broadcom patents, company spokesman Bill Blanning said in an e-mailed reponse to Wireless Week. "It is very common for defendants in patent cases to respond with countersuits."
As to whether Qualcomm's suit will have any barring on Broadcom's lawsuit, Broadcom said it would not. "We filed our patent lawsuits on the strength of our conviction that we have a very strong case, and we remain confident of prevailing in the courts. We will not be deterred by Qualcomm's counterclaims," Blanning said.