ITC's investigation into Qualcomm may end

The ITC may discontinue its investigation into Qualcomm's patent holdings related to a suit Nokia brought against the company earlier this year, Qualcomm said. The company said an administrative law judge recommended ending the ITC proceedings because the companies have already entered into arbitration regarding their 2001 licensing agreement.

Back in August, Nokia asked the ITC [1] to ban imports of certain Qualcomm chipsets and handsets that it claims infringe on five of its patents. The move sounded like a re-run of the Broadcom case against Qualcomm. Similarly to Broadcom, Nokia said the alleged patent infringement involves patents for technologies that improve performance and efficiency of wireless phones. Qualcomm also asked the ITC to investigate six patents [2] it claimed Nokia infringed on.

For more on the ITC investigation:
- read this press release [3]