Qualcomm’s Stunning Court Loss

Friday a jury ruled in favor of Broadcom in the first of seven patent lawsuits between the two companies. Even if the H.264-related patent is not core to Qualcomm’s assertion of IPR on 3G mobile phones, it’s hard to see this as anything but a big negative for the company.

Any loss emboldens the various mobile phone vendors and component makers, none of whom want to pay Qualcomm patent royalties. I would expect more aggressive lawsuits by Qualcomm rivals and less willingness to sign (or renew) Qualcomm patent licenses.

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