Appeals wants narrowed ruling against Qualcomm

NEW YORK - A federal appeals court ruled Monday that a lower court went too far in ordering that two Qualcomm Inc. patents be held to be unenforceable.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit agreed with the lower court that Qualcomm was wrong not to reveal that it owned the two patents when it became a member of a group that created the digital video standard known as h.264, with incorporates the patented technologies.

The video standard is widely used for streaming Internet video, including by YouTube, and on Blu-ray discs.

Because of Qualcomm's behavior, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California ruled last year that its two patents be held to be unenforceable in all contexts.

The appeals court disagreed with the wide scope of the district court's order, and said Monday the patents should only be unenforceable when it comes to h.264 products. It sent the case back to the lower court.

The district court's ruling resulted from a suit Qualcomm filed against rival chip maker Broadcom Corp. in 2005, saying it infringed the two patents.

David Rosmann, Broadcom's vice president for intellectual property litigation, said it was "highly significant" that the appeals court had sided with the district court in finding that Qualcomm's participation in the standards group made its patents unenforceable.

The ruling will have ramifications for Qualcomm's participation in other standard-setting bodies as well, particularly when it comes to cellular technologies, Rosmann said.

Broadcom of Irvine, Calif., and San Diego-based Qualcomm frequently battle each other in court over patent rights.

A Qualcomm representative did not immediately return a call for comment.

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