You can just tell from the wording in Broadcom's latest press release that it's still beaming from the late September court ruling involving it and Qualcomm, as we've never seen any one company so excited about a piece of silicon. The BCM2049 combo chip is built on 65-nanometer technology and combines Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and an FM transceiver in one convenient place. Obviously, the chip is being aimed at up and coming music phones, and it also features SmartAudio voice processing, Bluetooth audio streaming and an FM transmit function that will surely be next to worthless in mid- to large-size cities. Whoever made it onto Broadcom's early access list can get samples now, but you'll have to bypass the bouncer in order to get pricing.

We could start off by telling you just how much this decision will hurt Qualcomm and just how celebratory the mood must be at Broadcom, but instead, we'll key you in on this quote: "The appeals court also rejected Qualcomm's request for a new trial." At long last, we may have actually heard the end of what has seemed like a never-ending battle between the aforementioned parties. Today, a US Appeals court upheld an earlier ruling that Qualcomm had indeed infringed upon two Broadcom patents while ruling that a third patent in question was invalid. The ruling is obviously a huge win for Broadcom, who will soon be bathing in Benjamins as Qualcomm is forced to pay mandatory royalties for the chips it sells during the "sunset period" ending January 31, 2009.

[Via Reuters]

In case there was any doubt, Qualcomm has publicly acknowledged that Broadcom's win in US District Court over the banning of its chipsets that infringe on Broadcom's patents will "hurt" as it immediately halts shipments and adjusts to provide a more law-abiding set of products. The company seems pretty convinced that the pain will be felt primarily in the first quarter, largely because redesigned silicon is already in manufacturers' hands with commercial availability following on in the next few months. Investors seem to agree, with shares sliding a mere 1.8 percent on the news; as analysts point out, the far-reaching nature of the ban is offset somewhat by the relatively speedy availability of replacement designs that don't infringe (or so Qualcomm claims, anyway) on any pricey intellectual property.

In the latest major twist in this epic battle between wireless chipmakers, a US District Judge has slapped a permanent injunction on any products containing those Qualcomm 3G chips ruled to be infringing on Broadcom's so-called '686 patents. Not only can Qualcomm no longer offer infringing devices nor the chips themselves in the US, the retroactive nature of the ruling means that the company can't even provide service or technical support for '686 products already on the market. At this point, with a voluntary licensing agreement seemingly off the table, the next move for Qualcomm is establishing a plan of action to show Judge James Selna how it plans to redesign its products into compliance. [Warning: PDF link]

[Via Reuters]

So part of the deal of Qualcomm's nearly $20 million settlement with Broadcom over ongoing patent concerns was that Broadcom would continue to work on getting an injunction against offending products. Qualcomm tried to -- or at least claimed that it was trying to -- whip up a "workaround" that would allow it to continue to serve up chipsets that sidestepped Broadcom's intellectual property. Turns out that Broadcom thinks the supposed workaround is a bunch of hooey, though, and has gone back to the US International Trade Commission with its claim. The ITC in turn has referred the case to an administrative law judge for handling, which means that this thing could be dragging out for a little while yet. There's no telling what'll ultimately become of these chipsets or the future of Qualcomm's product roadmap after it plays out, but Verizon's got to be thinking that its decision to cough up cash on its own behalf is paying for itself over and over again right about now.

Remember Samsung's SGH-J750 that we spotted months ago while perusing the always intriguing depths of the FCC's website? Even if not, Sammy is announcing that the no fills handset is indeed shipping now, and its standout feature is (unsurprisingly) the 3G-enabling Broadcom BCM59001 PMU SoC tucked within. 'Course, this wouldn't be a lower-end cellphone without a totally average 220 x 176 resolution display, completely mediocre 8MB of internal memory and a blatant lack of WiFi. Granted, the unit reportedly sports tri-band GSM connectivity, USB 2.0, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, a microSD expansion slot, 1.3-megapixel camera, 3-hours of talk time (300-hours in standby) and an integrated music player, but nobody's jumping for joy after reading that, right? Mum's the word on price / availability, but look for it to slide in quietly here in the not-too-distant future.

[Via Slashphone]

Broadcom sure has been on a roll of late, introducing the feature-packed VideoCore III multimedia processor earlier this month and following it with the "world's first 3G phone on a chip" solution. The BCM21551 baseband chip was developed on a single, low-power 65-nanometer CMOS die and features Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, FM radio, an FM transmitter, support for up to five-megapixel cameras, 30fps TV out and "advanced multimedia processing." Notably, you won't find integrated WiFi or GPS, but it does play nice with HSUPA, HSDPA, WCDMA and EDGE cellular protocols. Best of all, this system-on-a-chip is available now to "early access customers," and the low, low $23 pricetag (when purchased in bulk, of course) is music to our ears.

If you had an inkling that Qualcomm's legal altercations were finally concluding, you'd be badly mistaken. Reportedly, the chip maker is now feuding with 19 of its own attorneys (or should we say, prior attorneys) over "who should shoulder the blame for what a judge called 'gross misconduct on a massive scale' at a past trial." Apparently, 21 crucial e-mails and some 200,000 pages of documents owned by Qualcomm were withheld until after Broadcom trials, which was unsurprisingly seen as a "carefully orchestrated plan and deadly determination to hold hostage the entire industry." Now, US Magistrate Judge Barbara Major is "considering sanctions" against the lawyers in question, which has placed their careers in danger and is "prolonging a damaging episode for Qualcomm." We're tempted to ask what could possibly happen next, but quite frankly, we're terrified of the answer.

Broadcom's VideoCore III multimedia processor certainly isn't the first of its kind, but if it actually does everything it's said to be capable of, we can count on having "3D gaming and HD functionality" on our future handsets. Apparently, the chip can even "support up to a 12-megapixel camera," and could allow HD recording / playback to take place within a cellphone or PMP. Best of all, all this high-resolution goodness is said to not be a battery hog, which is good news for those carrying along HD films longer than half an hour or so. The processor can also provide "720p HD video encode and decode with H.264 main profile compression at low power levels," and if you're one of the lucky "early access customers," you can phone Broadcom up right now for pricing information on samples.

What a system we live in. After having multiple requests denied, Qualcomm (or at least those third-parties using its 3G chipsets) was just granted a stay which again opens the door for the US import of Qualcomm-based handsets. Right, those same handsets banned by the ITC at the request of Broadcom on June 7th. In essence, the ruling means that Qualcomm can not import phones but others -- namely, Motorola, Samsung, T-Mobile, LG, AT&T -- can. Note, this isn't a reversal of the original decision and only remains in effect pending appeal. In other words, this is nowhere near to being over.

[Via Phonemag]

Chip ban aside, Broadcom's still pursuing other avenues to hurt Qualcomm's bottom line in its ongoing battles over a handful of alleged intellectual property infringements (also known as "Qualcomm getting a taste of its own medicine"). The company has just succeeded in getting an appeals court to overturn an August 2006 ruling stating that Broadcom had no antitrust case against Qualcomm over its WCDMA licensing terms; the higher court figures that Qualcomm's failure to license WCDMA technology at "reasonable" rates is tantamount to "actionable anticompetitive conduct," giving Broadcom an in to resume the suit. Broadcom thinks that's swell, naturally, but Qualcomm is tooting its horn as well, noting that just two of Broadcom's eight original claims remain. We guess that's a victory for ya, Qualcomm, but it's a bit of a stretch.

Qualcomm -- a company that's arguably more used to suing than being sued -- isn't finding much luck in its protracted quest to avoid a Broadcom-led ban of its 3G hardware from coming into the States. Following a recent denial of its motion to stay the ban in the court system, the President of The United States himself (or his administration, anyway) has swooped in to render an executive judgment, and it ain't looking any better for Qualcomm. Saying that the importance of protecting IP rights outweighs the inconvenience of the ban, the Bush folks have stood by the ITC's decision to impose the ban in the first place, making it seem all that much smarter now for Verizon to have sidestepped the whole ordeal and paid Broadcom itself. Barring any last minute antics, the ban gets enforced starting tomorrow.

Talk about tough luck. For the second time in as many month's, Qualcomm has been flat out denied by the courts as it has attempted to stall a ban on its chips over the Broadcom patent disputes. This time around, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit "dismissed Qualcomm's request for a stay of the ban, saying that it can't consider a stay until a presidential review period is over." Furthermore, this harsh news (for Qualcomm, at least) comes just days after being evaded by Verizon, and if that wasn't enough, the EU's stamp of approval on DVB-H could put MediaFlo in a world of hurt. Hang in there Qualcomm, all's not lost... yet.

Sprint and Qualcomm have something else in mind, but we guess this is one way to get around the issue: Verizon has apparently lost patience with the ongoing tiff between Broadcom and Qualcomm that ultimately led to a ban on the import of some of the latter's 3G chipsets, opting instead to just pay Broadcom to license the affected patents itself. The agreement gives Verizon free reign to import all the 3G silicon it needs in exchange for $6 per handset, capping out at $40 million per quarter with a lifetime max of $200 million (oh, and Verizon promises to stop supporting Qualcomm's efforts to overturn the chip ban, too). Not a bad deal, we'd say, considering the totally critical nature of the chips to Verizon Wireless' core business -- kinda makes Verizon look like the parent and the two chip vendors like irrational, inconsolable toddlers, does it not?

[Via Phone Scoop]

With the Qualcomm-Broadcom spat still in flux, Sprint has decided to ensure it has a backup plan in place should Broadcom force some kind of CDMA shutdown in the U.S. As such, the carrier has joined up with Qualcomm to test a software update related to its CDMA handsets that would allow EV-DO handsets to continue working should a court outcome side with Broadcom and enforce a patent infringement situation on Qualcomm. The CDMA chipmaker has the most to lose here, as customers Verizon Wireless and Sprint would be barred from using and importing CDMA chips with Qualcomm tech inside if Broadcom prevails.

[via phonescoop]