U.S. bans some cell phone imports in Qualcomm case
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A U.S. trade agency banned  on Thursday imports of some cell phone models containing  Qualcomm Inc.  chips because of patent violations, but  the decision immediately drew vows to appeal.
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(InfoWorld) - U.S. mobile users waiting for the next crop of phones could breathe a sigh of relief Wednesday when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted a stay on an import ban against handsets that use some Qualcomm chips. The International Trade CommissionÂ (ITC) ordered the ban in JuneÂ after theÂ Qualcomm chips were found to infringe Broadcom patents. It only affected future models, not current imports. If imposed, it could affect handset makers including Motorola, Samsung Electronics, and others, whoÂ filed motions seeking the stay. The latest move lets those manufacturers bring in the new phone models while Qualcomm appeals the ITC's order and seeks a reversal of the patent-infringement ruling. The fight for the stay was considered an uphill battle. Smith Brittingham, a lawyer with Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, said in June he could only remember one time when such a ruling had been stayed pending an appeal. âIt would be a significant victory for Qualcomm,â he said at the time. Last month theÂ Bush administration turned downÂ a request by Qualcomm to stop the ban. The stay affects the third-party companies that filed motions, which also include Kyocera Wireless, Sanyo Fisher, T-Mobile USA, LG Electronics MobileComm USA, and AT&T Mobility. The circuit court didn't grant a stay for Qualcomm's own imports, but Qualcomm does not itself import the chips found to infringe Broadcom's patents, according to a Qualcomm press release Wednesday. Broadcom went to the ITC seeking an import ban only against Qualcomm. The third parties and Qualcomm argued in the appeals court that the ITC didn't have the authority to exclude products imported by other companies. The court said the third parties had a substantial case and the harm they might suffer weighed in their favor, according to Qualcomm. Broadcom could not immediately be reached for comment. In July,Â Broadcom reached a deal with Verizon WirelessÂ that would let Verizon continue to import phones using the disputed technology. Under that deal, Verizon will pay Broadcom $6 for every handset, PDA (personal digital assistant) or data card that uses EV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized) mobile broadband technology. The payments have a ceiling of $40 million per calendar quarter and a lifetime maximum of $200 million. As part of the deal, Verizon also will drop its effort to overturn the ruling. The patent fight is one of a series of intellectual-property disputes between mobile pioneer Qualcomm and Broadcom, a communications chip maker that has moved aggressively into the mobile arena. (Nancy Gohring in Seattle contributed to this story.) Â
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Nokia  said on Tuesday the  United States International Trade Commission has ordered a stay  of Qualcomm's  suit against Nokia.
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Qualcomm Inc  said on Friday that a judge had recommended ending a U.S. International Trade Commission investigation of a complaint Nokia Oyj  had brought against Qualcomm.
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The head of the cellular industry association sent a letter to President Bush, asking him to strike the U.S. International Trade Commission&#39;s recent ban on the import of Qualcomm Inc. phones in the U.S.
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The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) has launched four investigations involving the import of computers or electronic device components, including one based on a complaint that several companies are violating patents on DRAM chips.The USITC also voted to launch an investigation, based on a complaint by IBM, into the import of motherboards, graphics cards, notebook computers, server computers, bare-bones computers, and routers by Asustek Computer of Taiwan and Asus Computer International of Fremont, Calif.In the DRAM case, Tessera of San Jose, Calif., filed a complaint on Dec. 7 alleging that 18 companies violated its patents for semiconductor chips with a minimized chip package size. Acer and Kingston Technology are among the companies named in Tessera&#39;s complaint.The commission on Friday also announced it has initiated so-called 337 investigations into the import of silicon microphone packages used in mobile phones and semiconductor lasers used in disc drives.In the Tessera complaint, the company accused competitors of violating four semiconductor patents. The company has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, as well as the USITC complaint. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted reexamination requests on two of those patents.Representatives of Acer and Kingston didn&#39;t immediately respond to a request for comments on the USITC investigation.IBM filed a complaint on Dec. 5, asking the USITC to bar Asustek and North American subsidiary Asus Computer International from importing equipment using PC power supplies, cooling fans, and clustering technologies into the United States. IBM accused Asustek of infringing three patents related to those technologies.IBM attempted to reach a licensing agreement with Asustek after a licensing deal expired in December 2004, an IBM spokesman said in December. An Asus spokeswoman didn&#39;t immediately respond to a request for comments.The semiconductor laser complaint covers lasers used in high-definition disc drives. The investigation is based on a complaint filed by Seoul Semiconductor of Korea on Dec. 4, alleging that Nichhia of Japan has violated its patent.In the silicon microphone case, the patented technology covers microphones in several devices, including mobile phones. The complaint, filed by Knowles Electronics of Itasca, Ill., on Dec. 6, alleges that Mems Technology Berhad of Malaysia has violated its patents.The cases will be referred to an administrative law judge, who will schedule and hold an evidentiary hearing. The judge will make an initial determination as to whether there is a violation of Section 337 of the U.S. Tariff Act of 1930. That initial determination is subject to review by the USITC.Within 45 days, the commission will set a target date for completing the investigations.
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TechWeb - An international limit on Qualcomm&#39;s technology could benefit Apple, because some of the advanced phones impacted by the ban were expected to compete directly with the iPhone.
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President Bush asked to veto recent International Trade Commission ban on the import of Qualcomm phones.
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A federal agency has banned U S imports of new cell phones made with Qualcomm semiconductors because the chips violate a patent held by Broadcom .
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InfoWorld - The U.S. International Trade Commission has denied a request by Qualcomm Inc. to stay an ITC ban on the importation of some Qualcomm chips and cell phones into the U.S. while the company continues its appeal in a patent infringement case filed against it by Broadcom Corp.
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A U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) judge made an initial ruling in Nokia&#39;s favor in an ongoing and long-running dispute with Qualcomm.The case was brought by Qualcomm and charged Nokia with infringing on patents&#160;in its GSM/GPRS/EDGE (Global System for Mobile Communications/General Packet Radio Service/Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) handsets that do not include WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access). The patents cover certain power control technologies.The judge also ruled that one of Qualcomm&#39;s patents in question is invalid, Nokia said.Qualcomm, which is best known for its development of CDMA technology, was seeking a ban on the importation of Nokia handsets using the technology into the U.S. The original complaint alleged that Nokia infringed on six patents, Nokia said. Since then, Qualcomm withdrew three patents from the complaint, Nokia said.Nokia and Qualcomm are embroiled in a bitter battle that likely has at its heart a cross-licensing agreement that expired earlier this year. Nokia clearly believes so. &quot;It appears to us the lawsuits are tactics related to our ongoing cross-licensing negotiations,&quot; said Rick Simonson, Nokia&#39;s chief financial officer, during a conference call with media on Wednesday.Qualcomm has filed 11 patent infringement suits against Nokia around the world over the past two years, he said.&quot;Qualcomm is attempting to resolve the negotiations in its favor without having to address the true value of its patent portfolio,&quot; Simonson said. Nokia argues that while Qualcomm was the leading contributor to CDMA, the chipmaker&#39;s contribution to WCDMA, a third-generation mobile standard, is much smaller. That, combined with an increase in value of Nokia&#39;s intellectual property, means the phone maker should have to pay Qualcomm less than previously paid as part of their cross-licensing deal, Nokia argues.Simonson would not comment on the progress of the renegotiations beyond to say that discussions continue.In its statement, Qualcomm did not comment further than to say that it plans to petition the ITC to review the ruling. The ITC is scheduled to make a final ruling on April 14. Qualcomm did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.This story was updated on December 12, 2007
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U.S. mobile users waiting for the next crop of phones could breathe a sigh of relief Wednesday when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted a stay on an import ban against handsets that use some Qualcomm chips.
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Qualcomm scored a minor victory in its continuing spat with Nokia when a judge last week recommended ending&#160;the investigation Nokia brought&#160;against it in August for infringing patents.In August, Nokia asked the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to&#160;ban the import of Qualcomm chip sets&#160;used in cell phones, including 3G (third-generation handsets), for allegedly infringing on five patents held by Nokia.ITC Administrative Law Judge Paul Luckern granted Qualcomm a motion to terminate the investigation, as the companies are already in arbitration to settle a dispute behind a technology license the two companies signed earlier. If the decision stands after a 30-day review, Qualcomm won&#39;t be prevented from importing its chip sets into the U.S.Nokia originally requested ITC to initiate an investigation against Qualcomm for infringing patents and issue an exclusion order to bar the import of infringing Qualcomm chip sets into the U.S.For two years now, the spat between the two companies over patent licensing has led to several lawsuits.Last year,&#160;Qualcomm filed a complaint with the ITC against Nokia over GSM&#160;(Global System for Mobile Communication) patents.The ITC is already investigating Nokia after&#160;InterDigital complained that Nokia infringed&#160;two of its 3G wireless technology patents. The commission also&#160;banned some Qualcomm imports&#160;in June, after&#160;complaints from Broadcom for patent infringement.
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Qualcomm Inc  is aiming to file on Monday or Tuesday for an emergency stay of a U.S government ban on importing certain phones containing its chips, general counsel Lou Lupin said on Friday.
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A federal agency bans US imports of new mobile phones made with Qualcomm chips due to a patent row.
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In a court decision that could dampen deployment of high-speed wireless Internet in the US, Qualcomm has been banned from shipping cell phone chipsets using three technologies judged as belonging to archrival Broadcom.
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(InfoWorld) - A federal court won't consider Qualcomm's request for a stay of a trade commission order that bans the importation of its chips into the U.S. 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. U.S. President George Bush has 60 days following the U.S. International Trade Commission's decision from June 7 to overturn the ban. If the President doesn't veto the ITC decision, Qualcomm will again file an appeal with the court, said Emily Gin Kilpatrick, a spokeswoman for Qualcomm. This is the second request for a stay that Qualcomm has lost. In late June, just weeks after the ban was issued, the ITC denied Qualcomm's request for a stay. The ITC in early June banned the importation into the U.S. of future versions of Qualcomm chips that infringe on Broadcom patents. A list of mobile companies joined Qualcomm's request for a stay to the federal court, including Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, Motorola, AT&T Mobility, LG Electronics, Mobilecomm U.S.A., and others. The Friday ruling caps off a difficult week for Qualcomm. On Thursday, Verizon Wireless dropped its participation in efforts to overturn the ITC ruling and announced that it struck a deal that will allow it to continue to import phones with the banned chips by paying Broadcom for each phone. While Qualcomm called the move a positive development, others said the agreement makes it even less likely that the president will overturn the ban because it signals the companies might reach a deal on their own. Qualcomm also suffered a blow overseas this week, where the European Commission said it might mandate the use of DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld) technology for mobile TV services. DVB-H competes with Qualcomm's MediaFlo technology, which would be forbidden in Europe if the commission were to issue the mandate.