Qualcomm lawyers reprimanded in Broadcom case
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A federal judge took action against Qualcomm and six of its outside attorneys on Monday for hiding 46,000 documents in a lawsuit the company filed -- and lost -- against rival Broadcom.
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The U.S. International Trade Commission said that QualcommÂ is infringing on one of Broadcom's patents, dealing a blow to Qualcomm in anÂ ongoing patent battleÂ between the companies.
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Federal Judge Rudi Brewster today denied a motion by defendant Qualcomm in its patent infringement case brought forth in May 2005 by competitor Broadcom, which would have enjoined Broadcom from being able to sell certain 3G cellular chips in the US.
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A federal judge in California ruled  on Monday that wireless chip maker Qualcomm Inc  must  immediately stop selling third-generation, or 3G, WCDMA  cellular chips that infringe on the Broadcom Corp   patents.
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(InfoWorld) - A civil lawsuit accusing Henry Nicholas III, the former president and CEO of Broadcom Corp., of mistreating employees, using illegal drugs and paying for prostitutes, has reportedly caught the attention of U.S. law enforcement officials investigating stock options backdating at the company. Nicholas, who resigned from Broadcom in January 2003, is the target of a civil lawsuit brought by cousins Kenji and Scott Kato, both former employees of Nicholas. The lawsuit, filed in November in Superior Court of California for the County of Los Angeles, alleges that Nicholas and his lawyers reneged on a settlement for wrongful termination and other claims. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, which is investigating stock options backdating at Broadcom, has begun looking into the Katos' claims. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation interviewed Kenji Kato in April, and this week, it began interviewing other Nicholas employees, the news report said. Kenji Kato's lawyer, Joseph Kar, declined to comment on the U.S. Attorney's interest in the case. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment on the investigation. Broadcom, a chip maker for communications devices, announced in January it would take a $2.24 billion charge for stock options backdating. Broadcom said it found options for 232.9 million shares of company stock that had been backdated, with 9.7 million of those shares going to executive officers. Kenji Kato, who describes himself in court documents as a former personal assistant of Nicholas', said Nicholas and his lawyers offered him a settlement of more than US$2.9 million in November, then withdrew it. Kato had accused Nicholas of wrongful termination, breach of contract and infliction of emotional distress, among other things. Kenji Kato worked for Nicholas from October 1999 to April 2006, and during much of that time, Nicholas threw wild parties and regularly used illegal drugs such as cocaine, according to a court filing from May. While at Broadcom, Nicholas hired prostitutes for clients and for himself, and he spiked customer drinks with powdered ecstasy pills to lower their "inhibitions and guard," Kato said in the filing. Nicholas' lawyer, Steven Silverstein, didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment on the lawsuit. But in court documents, Nicholas' lawyers deny the allegations and accuse Kato of attempting to extort money from Nicholas. Kato signed a confidentiality agreement when working for Nicholas, according to documents filed by Level 7 LLC and The Management Company LLC, two companies owned by Nicholas. Kato has threatened to make public "certain sensitive private alleged facts ... which he had expressly promised to keep private," the Level 7 court documents say. "Kato's wrongful conduct by issuing these threats ... will cause great and irreparable injury to plaintiffs." Nicholas regularly yelled at employees, and he demanded that Kenji Kato carry a bag with illegal drugs for him, according to Kenji Kato's filing. Nicholas also demanded that Kato use drugs along with him, Kato said. "I was regularly exposed to ... a high degree of debauchery while working for Nick," he said in his filing. "The first time I used cocaine was when Nick shoved a tiny spoon up my nose because I was falling asleep, while he was talking to me. Over time, I got sucked into his extreme lifestyle." By the end of Kato's employment, Nicholas was using "large quantities" of illegal drugs, including cocaine and heroin, and had withdrawn from his friends and family, according to Kato's May filing. Nicholas had stopped paying Kato, although he still demanded work from him, and when Kato walked out, Nicholas owed him $150,000 in back pay, the court documents say. Nicholas had promised Kato employee benefits and Broadcom stock options, but he never delivered, according to Kato's filing.
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The hit on Qualcomm from a patent suit it lost to rival Broadcom may be slashed because of an unrelated ruling that came down in August.In May, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California found that&#160;Qualcomm infringed three Broadcom patents&#160;and awarded Broadcom $19.6 million. The judge in that case, James Selna, said he would double the damages to more than $39 million because the jury found the infringement was wilful. The damage award isn&#39;t final because other issues in the case are still pending.On Monday, Selna tentatively overturned the double award because of a new standard for proving wilful infringement, said Broadcom attorney David Rosmann. Broadcom can either accept the $19.6 million in direct damages or pursue a new trial in which it would try to prove Qualcomm acted deliberately, he said. Judge Selna ruled any new trial would look at the whole case over again, he said.Broadcom hasn&#39;t decided which path to take, but its priority in the case is getting an injunction to stop Qualcomm from making, using or selling the chips, Rosmann said.&quot;The issue of the injunction is far more important to Broadcom than the damages,&quot; Rosmann said. &quot;We&#39;re hoping to move forward on the injunction as quickly as possible.&quot;In August, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upped the ante for patent owners that want to earn higher damages -- they can be as much as tripled -- by proving someone knew they were infringing a patent and did so anyway, according to patent attorney Smith Brittingham of Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett &amp; Dunner.&quot;You have to show more comprehension of the situation than you would have had to in the past,&quot; Brittingham said. The Federal Circuit ruling, on a suit against hard-drive vendor Seagate Technology, automatically changed the standard in all federal courts, he said. The ruling could change other pending cases, he said.The new standard probably won&#39;t discourage patent suits among competitors like the Broadcom-Qualcomm dispute, but it may make litigation less attractive for patent-holding companies in the business of suing, Brittingham said.&quot;It&#39;s consistent with the view that ... maybe patent infringement cases have gotten too easy to win and have created an unnecessary drag on business,&quot; he said.Judge Selna asked Broadcom for a decision by the end of this week, Rosmann said. Qualcomm declined to comment on the substance of the case.The suit is one of several between Qualcomm and Broadcom, who are battling over the market for mobile-phone chips.
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InfoWorld - Ongoing legal disputes over mobile phone patents between Nokia and Qualcomm are consuming much executive management time, generating substantial lawyer fees, and, if they escalate, could affect handset development and prices, experts warn.
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The U.S. International Trade Commission on Thursday ordered a ban of some imported cell phone models that contain Qualcomm Inc.  chips that infringe on a Broadcom Corp.  patent.
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A judge has halted legal proceedings in one of Qualcomm Inc.'s complaints that Nokia Corp. violated its wireless-technology patents. The move came as a deadline neared for the two companies to renew a high-stakes licensing agreement.
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A U.S. district court has dismissed an   antitrust suit filed by microchip maker Broadcom Corp. BRCM.O   against Qualcomm Inc. QCOM.O, although Broadcom said it would   continue to pursue the case.
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A U.S. federal judge has clamped further restrictions on Qualcomm&#39;s ability to sell and support certain wireless chip sets, saying that they infringe on three patents held by rival Broadcom.
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Wireless technology company Qualcomm  Inc.  on Wednesday said it had filed a suit against  Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia (NOK1V.HE), alleging the  company had infringed on two Qualcomm patents in Britain.
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(InfoWorld) - A U.S. federal court jury has found Qualcomm infringed three Broadcom patents and awarded Broadcom $19.6 million in damages. The jury in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, California, found Qualcomm infringed the patents wilfully, and a judge could increase the award as much as three times for this, according to a Qualcomm statement. At a hearing on June 18, the judge in the case is scheduled to set dates for post-trial motions. Qualcomm, a cellular pioneer and a wireless intellectual-property powerhouse, said it would challenge the findings in post-trial motions and, if necessary, file an appeal. Broadcom plans to ask for a permanent injunction to stop Qualcomm from using the technologies.. The case,Â filed in May 2005, involves five Broadcom patents. Broadcom dismissed its claims on one patent, and the court stayed the case with regard to another, according to Qualcomm. On Tuesday, the jury cleared Qualcomm on one claim regarding one of the patents. The patent claims affect key Qualcomm products: its EV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized) high-speed mobile data chips, its QChat push-to-talk software, and chip platforms for mobile multimedia, according to a Broadcom statement.
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A U.S. district court has dismissed an  antitrust suit filed by microchip maker Broadcom Corp.   against Qualcomm Inc. , but Broadcom said it would  continue to pursue the case.
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Income and revenue down, something about an ex-CEO and whores... Broadcom announced their Q2 profit took a 68 per cent plunge today, but scored a victory in a long-in-the-tooth patent dispute with Qualcomm.â¦
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Qualcomm and Broadcom have settled some of their patent claims against each other, avoiding a jury trial scheduled to begin next month, Qualcomm said on Friday. They remainÂ deadlocked over other patents, however, and still face several potential trials this year.
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Nokia, the world&#39;s top cell phone  maker, has filed a patent counter-suit against Qualcomm Inc in  a Texas court, seeking damages and an injunction against the  U.S. chip maker.