Qualcomm's Legal Woes Lessen

Qualcomm received some good news on the legal front Friday, with an antitrust suit against it dismissed, and Broadcom agreeing to drop patent infringement suits over Bluetooth technology.

The settlement does not affect other suits between the two companies, and terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The case involved claims surround two patents from both companies. A trial scheduled for March 5 has been cancelled as a result.

Broadcom's two patent suits stem from May 2005 filings to both the US International Trade Commission and Orange County, Calif. federal court. Those patents involved Bluetooth technologies in cellular phones. The company had originally asserted five separate patents.

Qualcomm's two patents come from five asserted in a San Diego federal court in July 2005. The dismissal eliminates one of five trials set to occur in 2007.

In separate news, Qualcomm won dismissal of an antitrust complaint brought against it by Golden Bridge Technology. The company said that Qualcomm -- along with Motorola, Nokia, Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic, and the former Lucent Technologies -- had acted improperly by attempting to exclude its technologies from a wireless industry standard.

A U.S. District court ruled last week that it found none of the companies had acted improperly.

The dismissal of GBT's complaint against Qualcomm follows the dismissal of a similar complaint in September 2006 brought against it by Broadcom. The courts found that that Qualcomm's conduct did not harm competition.