Qualcomm sued by Broadcom over patents

Communications chipmaker Broadcom said yesterday it is suing Qualcomm for allegedly infringing on several of its patents.

Broadcom filed two complaints on Wednesday in the United States District Court for the Central District of California which claim Qualcomm violated 10 of its patents related to wired and wireless communications and multimedia processing technologies. The company is seeking unspecified monetary damages from Qualcomm as well as a permanent injunction which would bar the major wireless technology maker from making or selling products that infringe on these patents.

Qualcomm products that could be impacted include chipsets which provide multimedia and voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, capabilities for Qualcomm mobile phones.

Scott McGregor, Broadcom's CEO, said in a statement: "Broadcom was an early pioneer in a broad range of wired and wireless communications and multimedia technologies. We believe that Qualcomm's current and next-generation cellular baseband and radio frequency (RF) product lines infringe a number of our patents."

In addition to the two suits filed on Wednesday, Broadcom also filed a complaint on Thursday with the US International Trade Commission alleging Qualcomm has engaged in unfair trade practices by importing integrated circuits and other products which infringe five Broadcom patents.

Broadcom has requested that the ITC investigate the San Diego-based company's practices and prohibit it from importing devices into the US which infringe on the Broadcom patents. The company is also asking that Qualcomm be barred from selling such products that have already been imported.

Broadcom said it expects the ITC investigation to begin in late June and the California trial to begin in early 2006.

Qualcomm representatives were not available for comment.

Marguerite Reardon writes for CNET News.com