A Santa Ana judge ruled on Monday to keep in place a ban on cell phone chips made by San Diego’s Qualcomm Corp. that were found to have infringed on patents held by rival chipmaker Irvine-based Broadcom Corp.
U.S. District Judge James Selna ordered an injunction against Qualcomm selling the chips on Dec. 31.
Qualcomm had asked the ban be put on hold so it could sell its 3G chips while it appeals Selna’s ruling. But he declined the request on Monday, according to a Reuters report.
Qualcomm previously said it expected an “immediate, short-term impact” from the ban on its 3G chips but planned to come up with an alternative product.
In his December ruling, Selna did allow Qualcomm to continue selling chips that infringed three other Broadcom patents until Jan. 31, 2009.
The banned Qualcomm chips are used mainly in phones from AT & T; Inc. and Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile.
In July, Verizon Wireless, part of Verizon Communications Inc., struck a pact to get around the ban by paying royalties to Broadcom, about $6 a chip.
Broadcom and Qualcomm have been fighting over cell phone chips since early 2005, with Broadcom coming out ahead so far.
In its latest legal dispute, Qualcomm filed one suit against Broadcom in which it lost in December and was ordered to pay Broadcom $9 million in legal fees.
