Broadcom File New Charges Against Qualcomm

Broadcom File New Charges Against Qualcomm

Telecommunications chip maker Broadcom is filing new complaints against Qualcomm for utilizing "exhausted" patents to charge royalties for both chips in handsets and for the handsets themselves. The complaint is part of a longstanding litigation over patent violations between the two companies.


The complaint, filed on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in San Diego, maintains that Qualcomm's misuse of the patents has resulted in a financial windfall for the company. Broadcom based its complaints on court ruling in case between Quanta and LG wherein a downstream buyer could not be held responsible for infringement, since the license agreement argued sanctioned the sale of components that "substantially embodied" the patents suit, thus sparking exhaustion. In a contradictory statement, a Qualcomm spokesperson said, "Broadcom's latest complaint is meritless and miststates the law. Broadcom's reliance on the Supreme Court's decision in Quanta v. LG is wrong because that decision was tailored to the facts of that case which are counter to our approach."



Last year, Broadcom notched a major legal triumph when a federal judge ruled that Qualcomm had infringed on Broadcom's patented technology for 3G phones. In August, the judge also ruled against Qualcomm for breaching the terms of that ruling.