Chipmaker Broadcom has won the latest battle in its long patent war with Qualcomm.
On Wednesday, a US federal appeals court affirmed that Qualcomm is infringing on two mobile-phone patents. It also upheld an injunction against Qualcomm selling products with technology that infringes the two patents.
However, it wasn't a total loss for Qualcomm. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that Qualcomm was not infringing on one of the three patents in question. This patent relates to video-compression technology.
Of the two patents that Qualcomm was judged to be infringing, one relates to walkie-talkie technology and the other involves mobile phones that switch between multiple wireless networks.
The permanent injunction contains a sunset provision that allows Qualcomm to sell its products and pay royalties to Broadcom until January 2009. However, Qualcomm has developed technology that circumvents the disputed patents, which means newer QChat phones, which use the walkie-talkie technology, aren't affected.
In August, a federal judge ruled that Qualcomm was in contempt of an injunction that bans the use of patented wireless technology owned by Broadcom. Qualcomm appealed the decision.
In May 2007, a jury found that Qualcomm had violated patents held by Broadcom that help mobile phones process video and walkie-talkie conversations. The judge in the case ordered Qualcomm to stop using the technology and to pay Broadcom royalties on existing, infringing QChat products.
Qualcomm and Broadcom have been battling in court since 2005. In the past couple of years, the smaller Broadcom has aggressively defended its patents and won several victories.
Last year, Broadcom won a major victory when the US International Trade Commission ordered a ban on the import of all new models of 3G wireless handsets with Qualcomm chipsets that infringe Broadcom patents.
