Irvine chipmaker Broadcom Corp. said Wednesday it filed a second lawsuit going after the way that rival Qualcomm Inc. does business.
Broadcom filed a lawsuit in state court in San Diego that focuses on the sales and licensing practices of Qualcomm, one of the biggest makers of cell phone chips.
Broadcom said that Qualcomm’s way of doing business amounts to “patent misuse.”
“Qualcomm’s use of ‘exhausted’ patents to control post-sale use of products in the wireless communications industry results in a double recovery of royalties,” Broadcom said in a statement. “These practices constitute patent misuse that has brought Qualcomm a financial windfall and brought harm to the industry and consumers.”
Qualcomm has had a contentious legal strategy that involves going after companies for royalties after accusing them of infringing on its patents.
About a third of Qualcomm’s roughly $10 billion in yearly revenue is made up of royalty and licensing fees.
Some analysts see the legal action as a pressure tactic used to reach a licensing agreement, according to a Reuters report.
Last month reports surfaced that said the companies were in talks to settle long running legal disputes, but nothing has come of it so far.
The move is the second of its kind by Broadcom.
In 2007, the company stepped up its legal attack by filing a similar suit in a Santa Ana court alleging Qualcomm’s practices violate California competition laws.
The suit goes beyond prior litigation between the two, which have been largely focused on patents, by charging Qualcomm with unfair business practices, discriminatory licensing and violation of industry standards by concealing its patents.
The two chipmakers have been sparring in Santa Ana and San Diego courts for the better part of three years over intellectual property issues and the legal remedies for patent infringement of various technologies for cell phones.
The disputes have been won by Broadcom for the most part, which counts as victories some $20 million in damages, a licensing deal with Verizon Communications Inc. and an international ban against some of Qualcomm’s chips.
