Qualcomm-Broadcom spat slows Sprint's QChat

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. rejected Qualcomm's bid to lift an injunction that stopped it from selling chips found by a California jury to infringe on Broadcom patents. Qualcomm hoped to continue to sell its 3G chipsets for WCDMA while appealing the verdict. Sprint Nextel's attempt to intervene in the case on Qualcomm's behalf was also dismissed by the court.

"We are gratified that the U.S. Court of Appeals rejected Qualcomm's motion for a stay, leaving in force the injunction against Qualcomm's infringement issued by the U.S. District Court in Santa Ana," Broadcom General Counsel David Dull said in a statement.

Pali Research analyst Walter Piecyk said the news is not a cause for alarm for Sprint investors: "We caution investors from getting alarmed by this news as Sprint has already announced that its launch of QChat would be delayed and limited to 20 markets," Piecyk wrote in a research note. "The recently announced delay in QChat might be a surprise to some as the company repeatedly stated that it was on track for a Q1 launch despite evidence to the contrary that we unearthed in mid November."

For more on the news:
- read this article from the Washington Post