Qualcomm faces another investigation by the International Trade C...
Qualcomm faces another investigation by the International Trade Commission, which in the summer issued a limited exclusion order banning import of Qualcomm cell phone chips said to infringe Broadcom patents. Broadcom seeks “fines and additional orders against Qualcomm to…
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finally put a stop to their infringement,” a Broadcom spokesman said. Broadcom filed a complaint last month alleging that Qualcomm had violated the ITC ban by continued marketing, testing and programming of infringing chips. Qualcomm filed an opposition this month. After reviewing the filings, the ITC found that Broadcom’s complaint complied with commission rules “for institution of a formal enforcement proceeding,” the commission said. The ITC “is not taking a position on Broadcom’s complaint and has referred it to an administrative law judge for handling,” a Qualcomm spokeswoman said. “Any time frame for handling will be set by the ALJ. In the meantime, the stay on the downstream exclusion order remains in place.” Qualcomm has a stay on the “bulk” of the ITC injunction while it appeals in the Federal Circuit U.S. Appeals Court, said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Rebecca Arbogast. However, “there was no stay in effect” that would have let Qualcomm bring in standalone chips not contained in handsets “for engineering and research purposes,” she said. “The larger lesson to be drawn… is how aggressive the legal challenges will be to any workaround that Qualcomm says it has.”