Qualcomm Denied Stay On 3G Chip Import Ban
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Richard Baguley Published on June 22, 2007 Comment on this |
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June 22nd 2007- Cell phone chip manufacturer Qualcomm has been denied a stay on the import ban on phones containing their 3G chips. The company had been hoping that a federal appeals court would issues a stay in the case that would have allowed cell phone companies to continue importing phones that use Qualcomm’s chips, but the court did not. This means that the ban on importing new cell phones that use the chips will continue. Qualcomm has been involved in a legal tussle with rival Broadcom over the past few months,. with Broadcom alleging that Qualcomm is infringing on their patents. Broadcom had taken the case to the International Trade Commission (ITC), who issued a ban on the importing of new models of cell phones that include the allegedly patent-infringing chips. The ban does not affect cell phones that were being imported prior to the 7th of June, or models that don’t use the disputed chips (such as Apple’s iPhone).
So far, the ban has not affected the import of any new models, as all of the phones on the market were introduced or started importing prior to the ban going into effect on the 7th of June. However, if the case drags on for much longer, new handsets that use Qualcomm chips will be hit by the ban.
The next step in this legal rough-and-tumble happens on the 27th of June, when the ITC has to justify the ban to a federal court .
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