Judge questions Qualcomm

A federal judge questioned Qualcomm Inc. Thursday about its failure to share tens of thousands of documents with rival chip maker Broadcom Corp. in a patent infringement lawsuit that Qualcomm lost.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Major made no decision after a six-hour hearing but said she was struggling to understand how Qualcomm overlooked so many documents and why it didn’t turn them over sooner. A Qualcomm attorney, William Boggs, called it an unfortunate but innocent lapse.

“Was there recklessness? No,” Boggs said.

Major responded, “Isn’t it reckless that they didn’t produce relevant documents?”

Boggs said, “No, I think it’s a failure.”

Broadcom wants Qualcomm to pay its attorney fees, establish new safeguards for sharing information with legal adversaries and correct what it contends were false and misleading statements by Qualcomm attorneys and witnesses during the patent trial.