Semiconductors
Qualcomm Blasts Broadcom Again
03/29/06 - 01:37 PM EST
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Updated from 9:46 a.m. Qualcomm QCOM adds another lawsuit to its patent battle with rival Broadcom BRCM. The wireless technology standard bearer accuses Broadcom of stealing trade secrets and selling chips that infringe on one of Qualcomm's patents. The lawsuit is the third filed by Qualcomm in a San Diego federal court. The legal skirmishes come amid a boom in wireless industry growth and reveal the highly competitive claims on which company controls some of the key underlying technologies. In October, wireless giants Nokia NOK, Ericsson ERICY and Texas Instruments TXN joined Broadcom in an antitrust complaint with the European Union against Qualcomm. The group says that Qualcomm charges too much for licenses to its wideband code division multiple access or WCDMA technology, and that the high fees help drive up the costs of cell phones. Qualcomm says it expects the first patent infringement trial against Broadcom to begin in January. "We believe that Qualcomm's claims are meritless and are surprised that these latest claims were not brought to our attention before they ran to court," Broadcom says in a statement Wednesday. "Qualcomm's current and next generation cellular baseband and radio frequency products infringe on a number of our patents." The patent slugfest comes as eBay's EBAY challenge to a patent setback at the hands of a closely held company called MercExchange is due to be heard by the Supreme Court. Qualcomm shares rose $1.54 to $50.90 and Broadcom rose 97 cents to $43.30.
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