Broadcom, Qualcomm to settle patent suits

Qualcomm Inc. and Broadcom Corp. agreed Friday to settle all patent claims pending in federal court in San Diego, eliminating the need for five trials in their 2-year-old dispute over mobile-phone chips and earpieces.

Financial terms weren’t disclosed. The agreement doesn’t affect cases in Orange County and before the U.S. International Trade Commission, San Diego-based Qualcomm said in a statement.

The accord resolves two patent-infringement lawsuits brought by Qualcomm in July 2005 and March 2006, as well as Broadcom’s counterclaims.

U.S. District Judge Rudi M. Brewster canceled the first of five trials, which was set to begin Monday, this week when lawyers for both sides said they were close to a settlement.

Qualcomm, the world’s second-biggest maker of chips for mobile phones, claimed that Broadcom was infringing four patents. Irvine-based Broadcom accused Qualcomm of violating six patents.

As part of the settlement, Qualcomm withdrew a claim that Broadcom had stolen trade secrets.

The U.S. International Trade Commission plans to hold a two-day hearing next week in Washington on Broadcom’s request to block U.S. imports of some Qualcomm chips and the handsets that use them. The agency already has determined that the chips infringe a Broadcom patent.