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  • Qualcomm: yeah, Broadcom injunction smarts a bit

    Filed under: Misc In case there was any doubt, Qualcomm has publicly acknowledged that Broadcom's win in US District Court over the banning of its chipsets that infringe on Broadcom's patents will "hurt" as it immediately halts shipments and adjusts to provide a more law-abiding set of products. The company seems pretty convinced that the pain will be felt primarily in the first quarter, largely because redesigned silicon is already in manufacturers' hands with commercial availability following on in the next few months. Investors seem to agree, with shares sliding a mere 1.8 percent on the news; as analysts point out, the far-reaching nature of the ban is offset somewhat by the relatively speedy availability of replacement designs that don't infringe ( or so Qualcomm claims, anyway ) on any pricey intellectual property. Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
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  • Broadcom says Qualcomm's workaround still infringes on patent

    Filed under: Misc So part of the deal of Qualcomm's nearly $20 million settlement with Broadcom over ongoing patent concerns was that Broadcom would continue to work on getting an injunction against offending products. Qualcomm tried to -- or at least claimed that it was trying to -- whip up a "workaround" that would allow it to continue to serve up chipsets that sidestepped Broadcom's intellectual property. Turns out that Broadcom thinks the supposed workaround is a bunch of hooey, though, and has gone back to the US International Trade Commission with its claim. The ITC in turn has referred the case to an administrative law judge for handling, which means that this thing could be dragging out for a little while yet. There's no telling what'll ultimately become of these chipsets or the future of Qualcomm's product roadmap after it plays out, but Verizon's got to be thinking that its decision to cough up cash on its own behalf is paying for itself over and over again right about now. Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
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  • Broadcom intros inexpensive "3G phone on a chip" solution

    Filed under: Multimedia , Others , Misc Broadcom sure has been on a roll of late, introducing the feature-packed VideoCore III multimedia processor earlier this month and following it with the "world's first 3G phone on a chip" solution. The BCM21551 baseband chip was developed on a single, low-power 65-nanometer CMOS die and features Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, FM radio, an FM transmitter, support for up to five-megapixel cameras, 30fps TV out and "advanced multimedia processing." Notably, you won't find integrated WiFi or GPS, but it does play nice with HSUPA, HSDPA, WCDMA and EDGE cellular protocols. Best of all, this system-on-a-chip is available now to "early access customers," and the low, low $23 pricetag (when purchased in bulk, of course) is music to our ears. Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

  • Qualcomm's legal quarrels continue... against its own lawyers

    Filed under: Misc If you had an inkling that Qualcomm's legal altercations were finally concluding , you'd be badly mistaken. Reportedly, the chip maker is now feuding with 19 of its own attorneys (or should we say, prior attorneys) over "who should shoulder the blame for what a judge called 'gross misconduct on a massive scale' at a past trial." Apparently, 21 crucial e-mails and some 200,000 pages of documents owned by Qualcomm were withheld until after Broadcom trials, which was unsurprisingly seen as a "carefully orchestrated plan and deadly determination to hold hostage the entire industry." Now, US Magistrate Judge Barbara Major is "considering sanctions" against the lawyers in question, which has placed their careers in danger and is "prolonging a damaging episode for Qualcomm." We're tempted to ask what could possibly happen next, but quite frankly, we're terrified of the answer. Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

  • Broadcom wins appeal against Qualcomm, both claim victory

    Filed under: Misc Chip ban aside, Broadcom's still pursuing other avenues to hurt Qualcomm's bottom line in its ongoing battles over a handful of alleged intellectual property infringements (also known as "Qualcomm getting a taste of its own medicine "). The company has just succeeded in getting an appeals court to overturn an August 2006 ruling stating that Broadcom had no antitrust case against Qualcomm over its WCDMA licensing terms; the higher court figures that Qualcomm's failure to license WCDMA technology at "reasonable" rates is tantamount to "actionable anticompetitive conduct," giving Broadcom an in to resume the suit. Broadcom thinks that's swell, naturally, but Qualcomm is tooting its horn as well, noting that just two of Broadcom's eight original claims remain. We guess that's a victory for ya, Qualcomm, but it's a bit of a stretch. Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

  • US Prez upholds Qualcomm chip ban, Verizon snickers

    Filed under: Misc Qualcomm -- a company that's arguably more used to suing than being sued -- isn't finding much luck in its protracted quest to avoid a Broadcom-led ban of its 3G hardware from coming into the States. Following a recent denial of its motion to stay the ban in the court system, the President of The United States himself (or his administration, anyway) has swooped in to render an executive judgment, and it ain't looking any better for Qualcomm. Saying that the importance of protecting IP rights outweighs the inconvenience of the ban, the Bush folks have stood by the ITC's decision to impose the ban in the first place, making it seem all that much smarter now for Verizon to have sidestepped the whole ordeal and paid Broadcom itself . Barring any last minute antics, the ban gets enforced starting tomorrow. Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

  • Qualcomm's request for stay on chip ban refused... again

    Filed under: Misc Talk about tough luck. For the second time in as many month's, Qualcomm has been flat out denied by the courts as it has attempted to stall a ban on its chips over the Broadcom patent disputes. This time around, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit "dismissed Qualcomm's request for a stay of the ban, saying that it can't consider a stay until a presidential review period is over." Furthermore, this harsh news (for Qualcomm, at least) comes just days after being evaded by Verizon , and if that wasn't enough, the EU's stamp of approval on DVB-H could put MediaFlo in a world of hurt. Hang in there Qualcomm, all's not lost... yet. Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

  • Request for stay on Qualcomm chip import ban refused

    Filed under: Misc The battle between Qualcomm and Broadcom over the former company's status in the states has taken a turn for the worse from Qualcomm's perspective, as a judge here denies a stay on the import ban of Qualcomm chips. The ban is related to a patent dispute with Broadcom, which won a case against Qualcomm a year ago, resulting in an import ban on chips that help conserve power in cellphones . It seems as if the ban will remain in place thanks to this ruling, which reaffirms the earlier enforcement of a ban on top of a nearly $20 million settlement between the two companies. So far it's hard to judge the effects of the ruling -- there certainly hasn't been a shortage of 3G handsets in the country ( or has there ?) -- since the ban went into effect, but since we're sitting behind a sheen of consumerism, it's not like we're in the best position to notice. Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

  • Clock ticking for ITC to justify Qualcomm chip ban

    Filed under: Misc It seems the feds agree with us that a broad, sweeping ban on little morsels of 3G goodness is just flat-out uncool. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has turned the proverbial hourglass upside down, giving the US International Trade Commission two weeks to justify its partial halt on the import of devices equipped with 3G chipsets manufactured by Qualcomm. The spat originates over a Broadcom claim that Qualcomm's silicon infringes on its patents, and the court system is interested in hearing why the USITC thinks the ban should remain in place while Qualcomm appeals. Intellectual property issues aside, the ITC's cold-turkey ban stands to have a significant impact on carriers, handset manufacturers, and customers (that's us, by the way) as the selection suddenly dries up -- so at the very least, we're hoping everyone affected has a little more time to get their ducks in a row while the patent suit navigates the legal system (please?). Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

  • Feds impose "partial ban" on Qualcomm-powered phones

    Filed under: Misc Stock up on those 3G handsets, folks -- they could become very valuable commodities here in the next few weeks. As part of an ongoing series of spats between wireless giants Qualcomm and Broadcom, the US International Trade Commission has ruled that handsets containing Qualcomm 3G chipsets (and that's a whole heck of a lot of handsets) that are manufactured starting today may not be imported into the US. By all accounts, this appears to be much more than legal posturing on Broadcomm's part -- a ban is a ban -- and we've gotta believe this'll resolve itself right quick. But if for whatever reason it doesn't, get ready for an eBay free-for-all in a gloomy, scorched-earth future where the only high speed handsets are pawned for thousands of New Dollars on the black market. [Warning: subscription required] Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

  • Broadcom wants to ban all U.S. phones with Qualcomm chips

    Filed under: 1xRTT , EV-DO , CDMA , Misc After we thought Qualcomm and Broadcom had at least kissed and made up a little, Broadcom dropped a bit of a bombshell this week: the wireless chipset company asked the International Trade Commission (ITC) to ban the import of Qualcomm-containing mobile phones to the U.S. The handsets in question feature certain Qualcomm processors involved in the long-running patent infringement lawsuit between the two wireless companies. Broadcom told the ITC that Qualcomm would be "rewarded for patent infringement" activities if all Qualcomm chip-containing handsets were not banned from being imported into the U.S. In other news, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel and Alltel said they would immediately switch to GSM and give away free Nokia N73 handsets to all customers. Just kidding -- we can have fun too, you see? [Thanks, Wil] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.
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