Patent infringement

US communications chip maker Broadcom has thrown a law suit against rival Qualcomm alleging that the San Diego-based company has infringed 10 Broadcom patents related to wired and wireless communications as well as multimedia processing technologies.

In two complaints filed on Wednesday in the US District Court for the Central District of California, Broadcom is seeking unspecified monetary damages from Qualcomm as well as a permanent injunction barring the manufacture and sale of Qualcomm's core suite of baseband and RF integrated circuits, including its multimedia, enhanced and convergence platform chips and its QChat VoIP technology for cellular phones, which Broadcom alleges infringe its patents.

Additionally, Broadcom has filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) alleging that Qualcomm has engaged in unfair trade practices by importing integrated circuits and other products that infringe five Broadcom patents.

Broadcom requested that the ITC institute an investigation into Qualcomm's infringing imports and ultimately issue an Exclusion Order to bar importation of those Qualcomm devices into the US. Broadcom also seeks a Cease and Desist Order to bar further sales of infringing Qualcomm products that have already been imported. The company expects that the ITC investigation will commence in late June and that the case will be tried early next year.

Broadcom's intellectual property portfolio today includes 955 issued US patents and over 3,200 additional US patent applications.