Qualcomm slaps Broadcom with third lawsuit

Wireless technology supplier Qualcomm has filed a third lawsuit against Broadcom over claims of "trade-secret misappropriation and patent infringement".

The complaint was filed in a federal court in San Diego, and alleges that Broadcom misappropriated trade secrets concerning Qualcomm's "development and marketing of W-CDMA baseband integrated circuit products and the multimedia capabilities of such products".

W-CDMA is a wideband, spread-spectrum wireless technique used in the most popular variant of 3G.

The suit alleges that Broadcom has used the misappropriated trade secrets to compete unfairly for the sale of W-CDMA chipsets. The complaint also accuses Broadcom of infringing Qualcomm's US patent number 6717908 through the manufacture and sale of W-CDMA and wireless local area network chipsets.

The complaint seeks an injunction prohibiting Broadcom's continued use of Qualcomm's intellectual property, and monetary damages.

This latest suit is the third that Qualcomm has brought in the San Diego court. According to Qualcomm, none of the cases will reach court before 2007.

Colin Barker writes for ZDNet UK