Broadcom Sues Qualcomm for Patent Infringement

By Suzanne Deffree -- Electronic News, 5/19/2005

In very broad reaching claims, Broadcom Corp. announced it has commenced federal litigation against Qualcomm Inc., alleging that the San Diego-based company infringes 10 of its patents related to wired and wireless communications and multimedia processing technologies.

In two complaints filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Broadcom is seeking unspecified monetary damages from Qualcomm. Moreover, the Irvine, Calif.-based company is looking for a permanent injunction barring the manufacture and sale of Qualcomm's core suite of baseband and RF ICs, including its multimedia, enhanced and convergence platform chips and its QChat VoIP technology for cellular phones, which Broadcom claims infringes on its patents.

Additionally, Broadcom today filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) alleging that Qualcomm has engaged in unfair trade practices by importing ICs and other products that infringe five Broadcom patents.

At first glance, the mounting claims caused at least one analyst to be skeptical of Broadcom's ultimate goal.

Said Neil Strother, a senior analyst at In-Stat, regarding the claims: "There may be some merit here; I just don't know where it lies. This sounds pretty comprehensive with all of those technologies. I have to believe that Broadcom, who is a player, is not the lead on all of them. It just seems like it's awfully broad." 

Strother added that the actions announced today will take years to play out in the courts.

"[It's] a classic battle where big companies like Qualcomm and other companies like Microsoft get blasted with certain attacks that are legal. Sometime they have merit and sometimes they don't," he said. "One of the tactics I've seen is one competitor will go after a company and fire off the hugest claim, and it's not really the heart of the issue – maybe it's one issue, not 17 – and in my view it's a fairly typical attack to fire on all cylinders and see what hits. I'm not saying that is the case, but it sure smells like it."

Scott McGregor, Broadcom's president and CEO, supported the company's actions in a statement today, noting that Broadcom has been building a portfolio of communications and related technologies for more than a decade.

"Broadcom was an early pioneer in a broad range of wired and wireless communications and multimedia technologies, and has enabled the convergence of digital video, digital audio, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, storage, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and adaptive coding technologies in many markets, including advanced, multi-function cellular products and services," McGregor said. "We believe that Qualcomm's current and next-generation cellular baseband and radio frequency product lines infringe a number of our patents."

Broadcom has requested that the ITC institute an investigation into Qualcomm's infringing imports and ultimately issue an exclusion order to bar importation of those Qualcomm devices into the United States. Additionally, Broadcom seeks a cease and desist order to bar further sales of infringing Qualcomm products that have already been imported.

Qualcomm could not be reached for comment.

Broadcom expects that the ITC investigation will commence in late June and that the case will be tried early next year.

Concluded Strother on the possibility of the suits ruling in Broadcom's favor: "It could hurt [Qualcomm's] bottom line, but that's a big 'if.' Judges, generally speaking, are pretty circumspect about this stuff, making sure that who owns what, when and how very clear."