A judge with the U.S. International Trade Commission said Tuesday Qualcomm Inc. infringed on a Broadcom Corp. patent, handing the Irvine chipmaker a victory in its ongoing patent battle against the San Diego rival.
Administrative Law Judge Charles Bullock said Qualcomm infringed on one of Broadcom’s wireless chip patents that go into handsets.
Qualcomm did not infringe on two other patents related to wireless chips, Bullock said.
“Today’s ruling validates our decision to challenge Qualcomm’s illegal conduct, and will invigorate us to aggressively enforce our rights going forward,” Broadcom said in a statement.
Patent infringement litigation between the two companies is set to go to trial in the next year.
“Qualcomm is gratified with the (judge’s) determination that our company has not infringed two of the three Broadcom patents,” said Paul Jacobs, chief executive of Qualcomm, in a statement.
Qualcomm’s stock was up about 1.5% Tuesday, while Broadcom’s stock lost about 3%.
Investors first got a hint of the outcome of this case back in May when an International Trade Commission staff attorney’s brief appeared favorable to Broadcom.
The commission judge has yet to hand down a penalty against Qualcomm. A six-member board must still approve the judge’s decision.
