Qualcomm In Contempt of Broadcom Injunction

Qualcomm has been found in contempt of an injunction preventing it from infringing on three Broadcomm patents...and now has to pay up.

U.S. District Judge James Selna has found that telecommunications gear maker Qualcomm has violated an injunction by continuing to use and support WCDMA chips in its QChat walkie-talkie products that allegedly infringe on three Broadcom patents. Now, Qualcomm will have to pay Broadcom the gross profits from the sale of those devices, as well as attorneys’ fees from the contempt proceedings.

"Over the past two years, Qualcomm has been found to have infringed four Broadcom patents, abused the standards-setting process, and committed gross discovery misconduct, and now has been held in contempt of a court-ordered injunction," said Broadcom intellectual property VP David Rosmann, in a statement. "Qualcomm’s conduct demonstrates a startling lack of respect for its competitors’ intellectual property, industry standards-setting processes, and the courts."

Qualcomm notes the court found it its favor on most of the issues alleged in Broadcom’s complaint, and plans an appeal to dispute the court’s rulings against it.

Qualcomm’s QChat service debuted on Sprint’s network earlier this year, although available figures for Qualcomm’s revenue stream from the service are somewhat contradictory. Reuters says Qualcomm has received more than $90 million from Sprint for the service.

Broadcom won the injunction against Qualcomm’s WCMDA products at the beginning of 2008.