Qualcomm turns down Broadcom settlement – Sprint ignores ITC Ban
By Will Park on Monday, July 2nd, 2007 at 11:52 AM PST In Announcements, Technologies
In the latest development in the on-going saga that is the Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM)-Broadcom (NSDQ: BRCM) patent dispuute, Qualcomm rejected Broadcom’s offer to settle a patent dispute with a $6 royalty for each affected phone. The patent, which involves technology to extend battery life, has been bypassed by Sprint (NYSE: S). The wireless carrier has implemented a software patch to bypass the technology – leaving it free to import mobile phones in the face of the ITC ban.
Qualcomm and Broadcom are still in talks to try and resolve their dispute, but we find it pretty hilarious that Qualcomm snubbed Broadcom’s offer – despite having all Qualcomm’s 3G chips banned from US import. These guys just don’t want to play nice.
[Via: Yahoo]
Well, 6 § a piece is quite steep..
It sure is. Seems like Broadcom is just trying to twist Qualcomm’s arm with the ITC ban. This initial settlement offer was probably just a starting point for negotiations – but it’s great that the two companies are negotiating in the public eye, and toying with the industry’s best interest.