After a drawn out legal battle, Irvine chipmaker Broadcom Corp. is set to get nearly $20 million in damages from San Diego rival Qualcomm Inc.
Broadcom could have gotten twice as much, based on a Santa Ana jury’s finding that Qualcomm’s infringement of Broadcom’s patents was “willful.”
The “willful” designation allows the judge to double the damages to $39.3 million.
The settlement stems from an earlier decision by a federal judge that Qualcomm should pay Broadcom for infringing on three patents for chips that go into cell phones.
It’s one of a handful of legal spats the two chipmakers are engaged in over intellectual property rights of cell phone chip designs.
In August, the judge reconsidered the decision to double damages because of a change in federal law announced in an unrelated case involving hard disk drive maker Seagate Technologies.
In the wake of the Seagate decision, Qualcomm asked for a new trial on whether its products infringe Broadcom’s patents.
On Nov. 21, the judge overturned his earlier award of double damages in light of Seagate, but kept the infringement verdict against Qualcomm.
He gave Broadcom the option either to accept his final decision or to seek a new trial.
Broadcom is going to take the cash and pursue and injunction against the contested Qualcomm chips, the company said.
