Can't Buy 'Em? Sue 'Em For Patent Infringement!

Thu, Jun 5th 2008 8:30pm

Filed Under:
backdating, drugs, ecstasy, henry nicholas, prostitution, scandals, spiked drinks

Companies:
broadcom

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Not Your Every Day Tech Exec Scandal

from the um.-wow. dept

While the good folks over at Valleywag might have you believe otherwise, most tech execs lead rather boring lives. There aren't that many "scandals" that happen around these parts -- and the ones that do happen, tend to be rather mundane. Some stock option backdating and maybe a bit of lying on the old resume, seem to be about as scandalous as it normally gets. But Henry Nicholas of Broadcom apparently decided to go with the more made-for-Hollywood sort of scandal. There is the option backdating issue here, but that's nothing compared to the fact that he's now been indicted for also keeping a warehouse full of drugs which he used for things like putting ecstasy in other tech execs' and customers' drinks, as well as supplying speed, cocaine and pot to tech execs. And then there were the prostitutes. Oh yeah, and the sex lair that leaked to the press last year. There's definitely a movie coming out of all of this one day. In the meantime, though, I think I prefer the Silicon Valley with more mundane executive scandals.

Wireless

Mon, Nov 26th 2007 12:23pm

Filed Under:
itc, patents

Companies:
broadcom, nokia, qualcomm

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Qualcomm's Small Patent Victories

from the it's-something dept

Qualcomm has always been a strong supporter of the patent system, as it was the basis for much of its revenue over the past decade. However, lately, the company has been getting hit left and right by patent lawsuits against it. Last week, though, the company ended up with a few minor (and perhaps temporary) victories against opponents. First, the International Trade Commission tossed out a complaint from Nokia asking the ITC to ban the import of Qualcomm chips. Nokia had simply taken a page from Broadcom, who had successfully used the ITC loophole to get a second shot at Qualcomm over its patents. Given how often companies have been starting to use this loophole, it's nice to see that the ITC doesn't always rollover for patent holders.

In the meantime, speaking of Broadcom, we had noted last month that thanks to a Supreme Court ruling that raised the bar for declaring "willful" infringement of a patent, the judge in the Qualcomm-Broadcom suit had given Broadcom a choice. Either retry the case under the new rules, or drop the "willful" part and get less money from Qualcomm. Broadcom has now chosen the latter option, and will accept a smaller payout from Qualcomm for infringement. Of course, it's not all good news for Qualcomm. Nokia still has lawsuits going against Qualcomm, with one getting underway in the UK this week. Broadcom is still seeking the courts to rule for an injunction blocking the import of certain Qualcomm chips as well (even as the ITC is already helping out on that front). Once again, no one seems willing to explain why Broadcom gets to take two whacks at Qualcomm over the same exact issue. In the meantime, while it would be nice to think that these recent messy lawsuits would give Qualcomm a chance to rethink some of its beliefs about the patent system, somehow that seems unlikely to happen any time soon.

Legal Issues

Thu, Nov 1st 2007 10:09pm

Filed Under:
patents, wifi

Companies:
acer, apple, best buy, broadcom, circuit city, dell, intel, lenovo, sony, texas instruments, wi-lan

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Wi-LAN Follows New Patent Hoarder Strategy: Sue Everyone All At Once

from the this-is-innovation? dept

Three and a half years ago, I wrote an article about the coming WiFi patent problem, focusing on the Canadian company Wi-LAN who claimed a bunch of patents related to WiFi technology. The company started off by suing Cisco. That lawsuit was eventually settled, but Wi-LAN clearly wasn't done yet. The company has now sued 22 different companies for violating its patents. This strategy seems to be the new strategy of patent holders: sue a ton of high profile companies all at once. It's what Sandisk did for example. Why is it becoming more popular? Because these patent holders are afraid that one of the potential targets might sue them first, seeking a declaratory judgment saying they don't infringe, and do so in a court other than the patent friendly court in Marshall, Texas. Oh yeah, Wi-LAN also notes that it's more economical to sue everyone at once. How nice of them.

Of course, Wi-LAN is hardly the only company that claims patents having to do with WiFi. It's a true patent thicket. If all these patents were actually valid and needed to be licensed no one could afford WiFi and it would be worthless. It's also worth noting that Wi-LAN's target list is somewhat ridiculous as well. It appears to be suing up and down the supply chain from chip suppliers like Broadcom and Intel to computer makers like Apple, Dell, Lenovo and Sony all the way to retailers like Best Buy and Circuit City. Assuming that all are somehow responsible for paying Wi-LAN the company could conceivably get license fees three or four times for the same computer. It's not hard to start adding up the questionable things going on here: (1) broad patents that are claimed to be important for a standard long after that standard has become widespread (2) these patents are one of many, many patents that claim to cover WiFi technology (3) filing the lawsuit against many companies at once (4) filing the lawsuit in east Texas and (5) filing the patents up and down the supply chain. This isn't what the patent system was designed to do and patent attorneys know it.

Legal Issues

Wed, Oct 17th 2007 3:07pm

Filed Under:
patents, willful infringement

Companies:
broadcom, qualcomm

New Rules On Willful Patent Infringement Likely To Save Qualcomm Some Cash

from the willful-just-doesn't-mean-what-it-used-to dept

Qualcomm's run into plenty of trouble in its ongoing patent battles with Broadcom, but the company finally received some minor good news. Back in August, we had noted that the appeals court that deals with patent issues had changed the standard under which patent infringement is considered "willful" (and, thus, subject to triple damages). Before this, the standard had been fairly low, causing all sorts of silly things like firms forbiding employees from looking at patents for fear that this makes the liable for willful infringement. However, the new higher standard is already making waves through the court system. For example, Qualcomm had already lost the court battle over patent infringement on some Broadcom patents -- and the ruling had said that Qualcomm was guilty of willful infringement, leading the judge to double the fine from the $19.6 million the jury suggested to $39.3 million. With the new standards in place, however, it's not clear if Qualcomm really is guilty of willful infringement and the judge is offering Broadcom a choice on how to proceed. Either it can drop the claim that the infringement was willful -- or it can drop the original decision and start again. If Broadcom drops the willful part, then the ruling will stand, but the fine will be reduced. If Broadcom wants to push for the higher damages of willful infringement, it'll need to redo the entire trial and make sure the infringement lives up to the new willful standards.

Filed Under:
patents

Companies:
broadcom, nokia, qualcomm

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Want To See A Patent Nuclear War In Action?

from the and-all-for-what? dept

We've talked about how patents have become a sort of nuclear stockpiling system, where companies hoard a bunch of patents for defensive purposes, mainly to keep competitors from lobbing patent claims at them -- knowing that the original company would just toss a bunch of patent claims right back. However, sometimes that detente breaks down and nuclear war ensues. You can see exactly that in the ongoing three way patent battles between Qualcomm, Broadcom and Nokia. We've been covering some of the individual skirmishes in posts here over the past few years, but the link here pretty much sums up how nuts things are. There are lawsuits in courts all over the country, followed by counter suits from the opposing companies in many of those courts as well. On top of that, there are reviews going on at the International Trade Commission, which has increasingly become a second chance way for companies to fight patent battles. If someone can explain how all of this helps to promote innovation, we'd appreciate it.

Overhype

Tue, Sep 11th 2007 6:42pm

Filed Under:
lobbying, patents, reform

Companies:
broadcom, qualcomm

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Patent Battles Now More About Lobbying Than What's Best For Innovation

from the funny-how-that-works dept

Patents are supposed to be about promoting innovation. But these days it's clear that the original purpose of patents has long since been disconnected from the program. In fact, if you want to see how bad it's become, here are two separate stories that highlight how decisions over patents are increasingly all about lobbyists, rather than actually figuring out what's best for innovation (though, I guess you could say that for all politics these days). However, read this Washington Post article on the silly Qualcomm/Broadcom patent fight, that we've covered before, where apparently both sides knew that the whole fight was about hiring lobbyists to get Congressional Representatives to support its side. Nowhere in that discussion do they bring up what's actually right and what's best for the country (in fact, the article notes that Broadcom's win will probably mean new mobile phones are about to get more expensive), but it's all about whose lobbyists were more effective. Meanwhile, we ignored the story last week about the House passing the latest patent reform attempt, because it's meaningless until it gets Senate approval as well -- and as for whether or not the Senate approves it... well, once again, that seems to be up to the various lobbyists who are now scrambling. Again, it's amusing to see either side on this debate argue that it's "big companies" against "little guys." It's big companies on one side against big companies on the other -- and the real question being bandied about is who is going to be able to better exploit the system -- not what's best for innovation.

(Mis)Uses of Technology

Mon, Aug 20th 2007 12:43am

Filed Under:
itc, loophole, patents

Companies:
broadcom, nokia, qualcomm

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Nokia Takes Cue From Broadcom; Uses Trade Commission Loophole To Fight Qualcomm Over Patents

from the loopholes-are-fun dept

A few months ago, we pointed out that since the Supreme Court made it clear that patent injunctions were being used too often, many companies were starting to use a loophole. Rather than just going through the courts to get an injunction, they would go to the US International Trade Commission and ask it for an injunction against those they accused of patent infringement. While courts need to follow the lead of the Supreme Court, the ITC could make whatever decision it wanted on whether or not a particular product actually did infringe and whether or not an injunction should be granted. It gives patent holders a second shot, outside of the court system, to get an injunction. In fact, right after we discussed this, Broadcom used exactly that loophole to get an injunction against certain Qualcomm chips. Qualcomm has been fighting this injunction without much luck, and it seems to have encouraged others to try the same thing. Nokia and Qualcomm have been engaged in a rather vicious patent fight recently -- and suddenly Nokia has come up with a strategy of (you guessed it) asking the ITC to ban the import of Qualcomm chips for patent infringement. Wonder where that idea came from? The folks at the ITC might want to start staffing up in the division that has to review these patent injunction requests. It sounds like there's going to be plenty to do in the near future.

Legal Issues

Wed, Aug 8th 2007 10:49am

Filed Under:
patents, standards bodies

Companies:
broadcom, qualcomm

12 Comments | Leave a Comment..

Judge Tells Qualcomm It Waived Right To Enforce Patents

from the that's-gotta-hurt dept

This has not been a good week for Qualcomm on the patent front. The company, which relies heavily on the patent system for its business model, is discovering that putting so much faith in patents can be a two-edged sword. It's already been covered that the President Bush refused to intervene in the International Trade Commission's decision to bar the import of next generation Qualcomm chips. However, as with many patent infringement fights, this battle is taking place on many fronts at once, with both sides suing each other over various patent infringement claims (the so-called nuclear war that is bound to break out when companies view patents as nuclear stockpiling). In one of the cases where Qualcomm charged Broadcom with infringement (rather than the other way around), a judge hasn't just sided with Broadcom, but has stated that Qualcomm waived its right to enforce the patents in question by withholding info on the patents from a standards body. This type of behavior is becoming all too common when patents and standards bodies mix -- and it's causing all sorts of problems in delaying, fracturing and generally killing technology standards that would be helpful in driving the market forward. For its part, Qualcomm claims it played by the rules, though, that's not saying it actually disclosed everything. Either way, it's yet another reminder that patents are very much a two-edged sword, and those who bet entire business models on patents need to recognize how it can backfire.

(Mis)Uses of Technology

Tue, Aug 7th 2007 11:05am

Filed Under:
patents, president bush

Companies:
broadcom, qualcomm

16 Comments | Leave a Comment..

President Bush Not Interested In Getting Involved In Qualcomm/Broadcom Patent Fight

from the leave-me-out-of-this dept

Back in June, Broadcom used a bit of a loophole to get Qualcomm in trouble over patents. Rather than just going the traditional court route, Broadcom had the International Trade Commission simply decide that Qualcomm infringed on Broadcom patents, and bar the import of certain next generation Qualcomm chips. While Qualcomm will still appeal the decision in court, it also appealed directly to President Bush. It would appear the President has more important things to do with his time than get involved in a pointless patent battle, as he's decided to allow the ban to stand. Once again, expect many more companies to start going to the International Trade Commission as a way of getting around court rulings that have been a lot less kind to bogus patents lately. In the meantime, Qualcomm claims it has a workaround to avoid infringing on the patent, but somehow we expect Broadcom won't be satisfied.

Wireless

Wed, Jul 25th 2007 12:17am

Filed Under:
patents

Companies:
broadcom, qualcomm, verizon