In a moment of bittersweet victory for Qualcomm, a federal judge upheld U.S. District Court Judge James V. Selna’s previous ruling that Qualcomm is indeed guilty of infringing on Broadcom’s 3G WCDMA technology. However, and here’s the sweet part, the ruling overturned Judge Selna’s decision to double the damages awarded to Broadcom by a federal jury.
Earlier this year, the federal jury had unanimously found that Qualcomm was guilty of infringing on Broadcom’s patents. The jury further found that Qualcomm’s actions were willful, which allowed Selna to double the $19.6 million damage amount to $39.3 million. Broadcom was offered another the option to seek a new trial in which the willfulness of Qualcomm’s actions would be tried again, but the Irvine, CA.-based chipmaker has decided to accept $19.6 million in compensatory damages.
So, Qualcomm ended up saving a good chunk of change. Unfortunately, they’re still going to have to cough up a sizable fortune to Broadcom. At least they’ve had a bit of good luck in getting those other cases dismissed.
[Via: EETimes]