In a move that should at least somewhat restore your faith in the US legal system and corporate accountability, U.S. District Judge James Selna found that Qualcomm violated (more like ignored) a previous injunction that barred the chip-maker from selling 3G chips in the US that infringed on Broadcom’s patents. This most recent ruling requires that Qualcomm fork over their profits from sales of its QChat push-to-talk technology for Sprint.
Court documents indicate that Qualcomm took in $93 million in revenue related to its QChat technology. Judge Selna has given Qualcomm 30 days to calculate just how much coin they will have to pay to Broadcom – when you’re dealing with this kind of money, it can take some time to get the numbers in order.
For it’s part, Qualcomm plans to appeal the order. “We respect the order and will immediately comply and at the same time we’ll move forward with an appeal,” said Alex Rogers, senior vice president and legal counsel for Qualcomm.
The court ruling is just another legal bump in Qualcomm’s litigation-strewn road. And, with $10 billion in projected revenue for 2008, we’re sure Qualcomm won’t have too hard a time going back and forth with Broadcom in court.
[Via: Reuters]