Mobile technology developer Qualcomm says that an injunction barring it from selling certain mobile phone chips found to be infringing on technology from Broadcom—as well as putting a mandatory “sunset” provision and royalty payment on others—will means a short-term hit, but the company has non-infringing chipsets ready to go and should be appearing in handsets by March of this year. And the company is examining all its legal options, including seeking a stay of the injunction and pursuing an outright appeal.
“While Qualcomm will attempt to obtain further relief and clarity from the courts on certain aspects of the order, the inability to obtain such relief will likely have an immediate, short-term impact as handset customers transition to new designs for WCDMA products,” the company said in a statement.
In the meantime, the company says it has a new series of UMTS mobile phone chipsets ready to go that do not infringe on Broadcom patents. “Qualcomm has available new UMTS chipsets that offer a seamless transition for impacted device manufacturers who are shipping devices into the U.S. market based on our flagship products,” said Qualcomm’s CMDA technologies VP Alex Katouzian, in a statement. “We are working to comply fully with the court ruling while minimizing the impact on our partners.” The new Mobile Station Modem chipsets are pin- and software-compatible with existing Qualcomm products so manufacturers shouldn’t have much trouble integrating them with their products.
The injunction bars Qualcomm from selling technology in the United States which has been found to infringe on three Broadcom patents; the ruling also grants limited exceptions under which Qualcomm can continue selling infringing products to existing customers under a “sunset” agreement ending January 31, 2009, with mandatory royalty payments to Broadcom.
