The U.S. International Trade Commission said Friday it denied Qualcomm Inc.’s request for a temporary hold on a ban it issued against the San Diego-based maker of chips for cell phones.
The ITC, a federal trade watchdog, decided to keep its recent penalty against San Diego-based Qualcomm, which was found to have infringed on Irvine-based Broadcom Corp.’s patents.
The ban keeps some Qualcomm chips and cell phones containing them from entering the country.
Last year, an ITC judge found that Qualcomm’s cell phone chips infringed five claims of Broadcom’s patents, which relate to conserving cell phone power.
Qualcomm general counsel Lou Lupin said the company plans to appeal the penalty and the ITC’s initial ruling of infringement.
A federal court is set to hear from the ITC on the issue next week.
The ITC penalty is set to be reviewed by President Bush and U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab.
Qualcomm, Broadcom, their customers and other representatives of the wireless industry are set to present their cases.
The White House has until the second week of July to veto the ban or let it stand.
For more on this story, see the June 25 edition of the Business Journal.
