Nokia Sues Qualcomm

Qualcomm (QCOM Quote) lightened its legal load with a mutual agreement to drop some patent cases with Broadcom (BRCM Quote), but faces a new claim in Europe from Nokia (NOK Quote).

Irvine, Calif.-based Broadcom said it and Qualcomm agreed to drop their claims against each other in various patent infringement and trade-secret misappropriation cases to be heard in San Diego. Broadcom said two other cases that it brought remain outstanding: an International Trade Commission patent infringement case to be heard Wednesday in Washington and a Santa Ana, Calif., patent case to be heard in May.

The remaining Qualcomm case against Broadcom is a U.S. District Court case in San Diego in which Qualcomm alleged that Broadcom infringed two patents relating to video compression.

Meanwhile, Nokia announced today that it has filed complaints against Qualcomm in Germany and the Netherlands requesting declarations that Qualcomm's European patents are exhausted in respect of products placed on the European Union market with a Qualcomm license, in this instance chipsets supplied by Texas Instruments (TXN Quote). Texas Instruments and Qualcomm entered into a Patent Portfolio License in 2000, Nokia said.

If Nokia's claim succeeds, Qualcomm would be prevented in Europe from enforcing its respective patents in relation to Nokia handsets incorporating such chipsets.

The complaints were filed in the Regional Court of Mannheim (Germany) and in the Hague District Court (the Netherlands); both courts have substantial experience in patent matters within the EU.

Qualcomm and Nokia have been sniping at each other over patent issues for some time. They have a license that is due to expire next month.