A federal jury ruled that certain QUALCOMM cellular baseband chips and software infringe claims of three Broadcom patents, and awarded Broadcom $19.64 million in damages for Qualcomm's past infringement. Because the violation was found to be willful, the court may increase the damages up to three times the amount awarded by the jury.
Broadcom said the three patents include:
- U.S. Patent No. 5,657,317, which relates generally to simultaneous participation on two networks using a single transceiver. The jury found that Qualcomm has used the multimode inventions of the '317 patent in its EV-DO baseband chips.
- U.S. Patent No. 6,847,686, which relates generally to a chip architecture for performing video processing. The jury found that Qualcomm has used Broadcom's patented architecture for providing increased video performance in its "Enhanced Multimedia" and Convergence" chip platforms.
- U.S. Patent No. 6,389,010, which relates generally to a phone that may be used to place calls over fixed or variable bandwidth networks. A 'push-to-talk' feature on a cell phone gives the user the choice of making a 'walkie-talkie' type connection instead of a traditional cell
phone call. The jury found that Qualcomm uses the invention of the '010 patent in its QChat software.
In a press release, QUALCOMM said it plans to challenge the jury's findings of infringement, validity and willfulness in post-trial motions and on appeal, if necessary.
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