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Irvine, Calif — Dec 31, `07 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ — Broadcom announced that a federal judge today issued an injunction against Qualcomm’s continued infringement of three Broadcom patents.

As ordered by US District Court Judge James V. Selna, the injunction prohibits Qualcomm from making, using and selling certain chipsets and software that infringe the three Broadcom patents. Qualcomm is also barred from engaging in a range of marketing and customer support activities related to its WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) and EV-DO (EVolution-Data Only) chips, which are used to process data on high-speed wireless networks.

A Qualcomm spokeswoman said the company was reviewing the ruling and declined further comment. Qualcomm, based in San Diego, is the world’s second-largest chip supplier for mobile phones after Texas Instruments Inc. It earns much of its money from licensing fees on its patented technology.

Broadcom, based in Irvine, California, is a newcomer to the cell phone business but gained ground in 2007 in a wide-ranging court battle with Qualcomm.

In May 2007, a jury awarded Broadcom $19.6 million in damages for the same chip patents. In November, Selna indicated he would up the award to $39.3 million, but reversed himself when a a federal appellate court raised the bar for proving willful patent infringement.

The judge then took up the question of whether future sales of the chips should be stopped, resulting in Monday’s order.

“The ITC order did not go nearly as far in prohibiting other activities from Qualcomm,” said David Rosmann, vice president of intellectual property litigation with Broadcom. “The U.S. District Court order has in some respects much broader remedies. So the activities that are going to be barred by this injunction go a long way to stopping Qualcomm’s continued operations in support of these infringing chips.”

Broadcom is also suing Qualcomm on other patent infringement and antitrust claims, Rosmann said. The antitrust case is expected to go to trial in 2009. More at Broadcom.

New 65 Nanometer Solution Features the Latest HD AVC Technology to Support Multiple Video Formats and a 50% Reduction in Power Consumption

IRVINE, Calif — Dec 05, ‘07 — /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Broadcom today announced a new single-channel, multi-format high definition (HD) satellite receiver chip that enables manufacturers to develop low cost satellite set-top boxes (STBs).

The new satellite system-on-a-chip (SoC) is manufactured in 65 nanometer (nm) process technology and includes the highest level of functionality, fully integrating a single tuner/demodulator, as well as the latest AVC (advanced video coding) decoder that supports multiple video formats.

By reducing the number of components required to develop satellite set-top box products, Broadcom has reduced power consumption by more than 50% over competing solutions, lowering system bill of materials (BOM) cost while reducing the complexity and size of designing next generation satellite STBs.

The BCM7325 operates on a dual-threaded MIPS(R) CPU core running at 333MHz resulting in over 550DMIPS of performance. The BCM7325 is designed to support UMA and non-UMA memory architectures, utilizing a 400-MHz clock, 32-bit wide DDR2 memory I/F for enhanced performance and allows cost-effective memory implementations.

The BCM7325 supports several interfaces for TV output on-chip including HDMI, baseband composite, component or S-Video, and incorporates Broadcom’s advanced 2D graphics engine that enables true studio-quality text and graphics, efficiently using its memory and bandwidth. More at Broadcom.

IRVINE, Calif — Nov 23, ‘07 — Chip maker Broadcom said Friday it will try to stop rival Qualcomm from making, using, selling or developing cellular chips based on contested patents.

It’s the latest legal cannonball hurled by Broadcom in its wide-ranging court battle with industry Goliath Qualcomm over the rights to technology for cell phones.

The move comes two days after Broadcom chose to accept a reduced damage award of $19.6 million rather than retry its case against Qualcomm in a California federal court.

U.S. District Court Judge James V. Selna initially indicated he would award Broadcom $39.3 million in damages, double what a jury awarded in May. The panel found that Qualcomm willfully violated three of Broadcom’s patents on technologies that help cell phones process video and walkie-talkie conversations and hand off calls between different networks.

Selna overturned his own ruling after a federal appellate court raised the bar for proving patent infringement. That ruling came in a dispute between an individual investor and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology against Seagate Technology, the world’s largest maker of hard drives.

Broadcom spokesman Bill Blanning said the company was glad Selna allowed the original jury verdict to stand and hoped he would grant the company’s request for an injunction on Qualcomm’s production of third-generation WCDMA and EV-DO cellular chips.

Qualcomm plans to ask the judge to approve a system of royalty payments by its customers to Broadcom in lieu of ordering an injunction, said spokeswoman Christine Trimble. Earlier this year, Verizon Wireless agreed to pay Broadcom $6 for each phone with a patent-infringing Qualcomm chip — up to $40 million a quarter or $200 million over the life of the agreement.

Qualcomm, based in San Diego, is the world’s second-largest chip supplier for mobile phones after Texas Instruments but earns much of its money from licensing fees on its patented technology. Broadcom, based in Irvine, is a newcomer to the cell phone business but has scored several legal victories against Qualcomm this year.

Qualcomm is also embroiled in several legal battles with leading mobile phone maker Nokia. They are currently in arbitration proceedings after failing to renew a technology license agreement that expired in April. More at Broadcom.

New ROM-Based Solution Features Technology that Distinguishes Voice from Background Noise to Boost Audio Conversation Clarity.

IRVINE, Calif., Nov 05, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ — Broadcom today introduced the industry’s first Bluetooth audio solution to offer noise and echo suppression without expensive flash memory and digital signal processing (DSP) components, resulting in significantly improved audio quality in mass market Bluetooth headsets. Expanding the Broadcom Bluetooth audio platform, the new single-chip ROM-based device features advanced audio enhancement technology in a small, low cost package that will help to drive cost effective, stylish headset designs based on Bluetooth technology.

Announced today is the Broadcom BCM2044S headset solution that leverages a ROM-based architecture to implement its unique SmartAudio noise and echo reduction algorithms, enhancing audio quality without adding additional costly components. This technology potentially reduces the bill of materials (BOM) cost by 40 percent, enabling OEMs to offer high-end audio capabilities at the same cost as basic headsets. In addition, the BCM2044S is footprint-compatible with the predecessor Broadcom BCM2044, enabling OEM customers to cost effectively offer multi-tiered product lines based on a common hardware platform.

New Reference Design Further Reduces Cost

Broadcom also announced today its BCM92044 reference design that provides headset OEMs with a greatly reduced 2-layer printed circuit board (PCB), versus alternative solutions that require PCBs with four or six layers. Broadcom also conducts extensive interoperability testing with other Bluetooth devices, and to date, the BCM92044 reference design has been validated with over 200 Bluetooth devices and that list continues to grow. More at Broadcom.

In line with earlier rumors and  speculations, Google has finally unveiled its plans, open platform for mobile devices - Android - to dominate the Mobile industry along with (almost every one in mobile industry worldwide except Microsoft, Nokia & Apple obviously) HTC, Intel, T-Mobile, Sprint, Qualcomm, Broadcom, SiRF, Samsung, nVIDIA, eBay, LG, Motorola, NTT DoCoMo, TI and others.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.; BONN, Germany; TAOYUAN, Taiwan; SAN DIEGO, Calif.; SCHAUMBURG, Ill. –November 5, 2007 – A broad alliance of leading technology and wireless companies today joined forces to announce the development of Android, the first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. Google Inc., T-Mobile, HTC, Qualcomm, Motorola and others have collaborated on the development of Android through the Open Handset Alliance, a multinational alliance of technology and mobile industry leaders.

This alliance shares a common goal of fostering innovation on mobile devices and giving consumers a far better user experience than much of what is available on today’s mobile platforms. By providing developers a new level of openness that enables them to work more collaboratively, Android will accelerate the pace at which new and compelling mobile services are made available to consumers.

Thirty-four companies have formed the Open Handset Alliance, which aims to develop technologies that will significantly lower the cost of developing and distributing mobile devices and services. The Android platform is the first step in this direction — a fully integrated mobile “software stack” that consists of an operating system, middleware, user-friendly interface and applications. Consumers should expect the first phones based on Android to be available in the second half of 2008.

The Android platform will be made available under one of the most progressive, developer-friendly open-source licenses, which gives mobile operators and device manufacturers significant freedom and flexibility to design products. Next week the Alliance will release an early access software development kit to provide developers with the tools necessary to create innovative and compelling applications for the platform.

Android holds the promise of unprecedented benefits for consumers, developers and manufacturers of mobile services and devices. Handset manufacturers and wireless operators will be free to customize Android in order to bring to market innovative new products faster and at a much lower cost.

Developers will have complete access to handset capabilities and tools that will enable them to build more compelling and user-friendly services, bringing the Internet developer model to the mobile space. And consumers worldwide will have access to less expensive mobile devices that feature more compelling services, rich Internet applications and easier-to-use interfaces — ultimately creating a superior mobile experience.

Open Software, Open Device, Open Ecosystem

“This partnership will help unleash the potential of mobile technology for billions of users around the world. A fresh approach to fostering innovation in the mobile industry will help shape a new computing environment that will change the way people access and share information in the future,” said Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt. “Today’s announcement is more ambitious than any single ‘Google Phone’ that the press has been speculating about over the past few weeks. Our vision is that the powerful platform we’re unveiling will power thousands of different phone models.”

“As a founding member of the Open Handset Alliance, T-Mobile is committed to innovation and fostering an open platform for wireless services to meet the rapidly evolving and emerging needs of wireless customers,” said René Obermann, Chief Executive Officer, Deutsche Telekom, parent company of T-Mobile. “Google has been an established partner for T-Mobile’s groundbreaking approach to bring the mobile open Internet to the mass market. We see the Android platform as an exciting opportunity to launch robust wireless Internet and Web 2.0 services for T-Mobile customers in the US and Europe in 2008.”

“HTC’s trademark on the mobile industry has been its ability to drive cutting-edge innovation into a wide variety of mobile devices to create the perfect match for individuals,” said Peter Chou, Chief Executive Officer, HTC Corp. “Our participation in the Open Handset Alliance and integration of the Android platform in the second half of 2008 enables us to expand our device portfolio into a new category of connected mobile phones that will change the complexion of the mobile industry and re-create user expectations of the mobile phone experience.”

More at Google.

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A federal judge has said it’s up to chipmaker Broadcom Corp. if it wants a new trial on a claim that rival Qualcomm Inc. deliberately violated its patents.

U.S. District Judge James Selna tentatively overturned a $39.3 million award against Qualcomm because the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently made it more difficult to prove intentional patent infringement, a finding that allows a judge to triple a jury’s award. On Aug. 20, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington overturned a 24-year-old standard that patent owners merely had to show that the accused infringer knew about the patent and failed to avoid violating the invention.

“It would be an understatement to say that the Federal Circuit rewrote decades of case law interpreting the requirements for demonstrating willful infringement,” Selna wrote. If Broadcom drops its claim that Qualcomm acted deliberately, the verdict holding San Diego-based Qualcomm liable would stand, but the amount of the award would be revised, Selna concluded in his ruling Monday. David Rosmann, an attorney for Irvine-based Broadcom, said the company has not yet decided whether to seek a new trial.

The judge asked both companies to submit any additional briefs by Oct. 26 and said he would issue a written ruling the following week.

Over a Year Ahead of Competitors, Broadcom Introduces Single-Chip HSUPA Processor BCM21551 Features Full CMOS RF, Rich Multimedia, Bluetooth, FM Radio, FM Transmitter and More, Packed on a Single 65nm Die to Slash Price, Size and Power.IRVINE, Calif., Oct 15, 2007 — Broadcom Corporation, a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced a new single-chip HSPA (high-speed packet access) processor that integrates all of the key 3G cellular and mobile technologies on an extremely low power, single 65 nanometer CMOS die. Broadcom’s new “3G Phone on a Chip” solution enables manufacturers to build next generation 3G HSUPA phones with breakthrough features, sleek form factors and very long battery life, all at a fraction of the cost of today’s solutions - driving widespread consumer adoption. Never before has anyone integrated as many radio devices on a single chip, which demonstrates Broadcom’s technology leadership in multi-modal CMOS RF technology.

Announced today is the BCM21551 3G “Phone on a Chip,” which combines a high-speed HSUPA 3G baseband, a multi-band radio frequency (RF) transceiver, Bluetooth® 2.1 with enhanced data rate (EDR) technology, an FM radio receiver and an FM radio transmitter (for car stereo music playback). The device also features advanced multimedia processing, up to five Megapixel camera support, and 30 frame per second video with “TV Out,” as well as support for the HSUPA, HSDPA, WCDMA and EDGE cellular protocols. It can even be paired with other Broadcom devices, such as Wi-Fi® and GPS, PMU, or the new VideoCore® III mobile multimedia processor. No competing cellular baseband chip has ever achieved this level of integration, which drives down cost, power and size, while enabling an advanced level of functionality. This makes the BCM21551 an ideal choice for both “mass market” high volume 3G “feature phones” as well as smartphones running an open OS such as Symbian®, Windows Mobile®, or Linux®.

More at Broadcom Press Release

AP Business Writer, Elliot Spagat reports in San Diego, CA, “Chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. dueled Friday in federal court with its hired attorneys over who shoulders the blame for what a judge called “gross misconduct on a massive scale” at a past trial. U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Major is considering sanctions against 19 attorneys who represented Qualcomm in a patent lawsuit the cell phone chipmaker filed against rival Broadcom Corp.

The possibility of sanctions has threatened the careers of attorneys from two Silicon Valley firms and prolonged a damaging episode for Qualcomm. The company’s legal activity has helped it become the world’s second-largest chipmaker for cell phones. The judge said she was struggling to understand how Qualcomm and its lawyers committed “the fundamental and monumental error” of failing to share more than 200,000 pages of documents with Broadcom until after trial. Neither lawyers for Qualcomm nor the 19 attorneys it hired - and is now arguing with - had clear answers.

Joel Zeldin, an attorney for 11 of the lawyers, said Qualcomm hamstrung his defense by deciding to keep its communications with its attorneys confidential. “The lawyers really can’t defend themselves and that’s a real due-process concern,” he said.

Qualcomm attorney William Boggs defended the San Diego-based company’s decision to prevent disclosure of privileged communications with the hired lawyers, and he urged the judge not to fine them. Boggs called the failure to produce the thousands of documents an unintentional mistake. Qualcomm already has been fined $8.5 million and ordered to pay Broadcom’s attorney fees.

The sanctions hearing focuses on the actions of two law firms that worked the case for Qualcomm - Day Casebeer Madrid & Batchelder LLP of Cupertino and Heller Ehrman LLP, which has offices in Menlo Park. In statements filed with court this week, the lawyers said they never sought to mislead anyone.

After a daylong hearing, the judge said she would issue a written ruling. She gave no indication of whether she would take the unusual step of punishing the lawyers, what penalty she might impose or when she would rule. She was clearly troubled by Qualcomm’s behavior at the trial, which it lost in January. “If there isn’t some kind of sanction for that conduct, what’s the deterrence?” she asked.

Qualcomm had sued Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. in October 2005, claiming it violated Qualcomm’s patents on H.264 technology, which is used to compress video signals in DVD players, digital televisions and music players. Near the end of the trial, Qualcomm engineer Viji Raveendran disclosed that her lawyers discovered 21 key e-mails that had not been shared with Broadcom as required during discovery, the phase before trial when parties exchange information. Broadcom demanded an explanation and learned months later that Qualcomm also failed to share the thousands of pages of documents.”

More at AP

Irvine, CA based Broadcom announces “sampling of the industry’s first low power multimedia processor that enables a HD (720p, H.264 Encode and Decode) video camcorder and playback in cell phones and portable media players. The Broadcom® VideoCore® III multimedia processor also supports an up to 12 megapixel digital camera and delivers high performance yet ultra-low power 3D graphics for a world-class gaming experience. HD video, 3D games and high resolution 12 megapixel pictures can be displayed at top quality on full-sized HD televisions and monitors using an on-chip industry standard HDMI interface.

More at Broadcom…