Broadcom's agreement to the injunction and its imposition by the court demonstrate that an earlier Broadcom press release, reporting that Qualcomm's request for such an injunction had been denied, was erroneous. The preliminary injunction will remain in effect at least through completion of the trial in this case, presently set to start on Oct. 10.

Qualcomm claimed it recently discovered that Broadcom, during the period leading up to its introduction of WCDMA baseband products, "had engaged in a successful multi-year effort to improperly acquire thousands of pages of Qualcomm confidential business and technical information, including valuable source code, relating to Qualcomm's WCDMA product development."

The preliminary injunction bars any use of the confidential technical and business information in the misappropriated Qualcomm documents, including by the exploitation of such information in the marketing, sales or development of Broadcom's current or future products. It is a court order, the violation of which could result in a finding of contempt.

Broadcom and Qualcomm (San Diego) have been engaged in multiple patent fights on several fronts, including a lawsuit filed by Broadcom and Texas Instruments Inc. against Qualcomm in South Korea. Broadcom was one of six companies to lodge complaints with the European Commission last year alleging that Qualcomm was unfairly withholding intellectual property.

Recently, a U.S. District Court Judge in San Diego threw out Qualcomm's request to bar Broadcom from developing and selling 3G chips.

Then, earlier this month, a U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) judge issued an initial determination Tuesday (Oct. 10) that Qualcomm Inc. infringes five claims of a Broadcom Corp. patent, according to a statement released by Broadcom.

By: DocMemory
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