Qualcomm, Broadcom settle patent dispute on mobile chips

Wireless technology rivals Broadcom and Qualcomm have settled a patent dispute involving mobile phone chips less than a week before the case was scheduled for trial, an Associated Press report said.

The Associated Press report said te agreement, disclosed to US district judge Rudi M. Brewster, resolved a 2005 claim by Qualcomm that Broadcom was infringing on technology used to control power usage by mobile phones. Court documents detailing the settlement terms were not immediately available.

The suit, slated to go to trial in a federal court in San Diego, was one of several claims the two companies have filed against each other over intellectual property and licensing, the report said.

A spokeswoman for Qualcomm declined comment. A Broadcom spokesman did not immediately respond to a phone message.

In January, a federal jury in San Diego found that Broadcom did not infringe on two Qualcomm patents for video compression technology. In February, the companies announced settlements in two separate lawsuits in which they accused each other of patent violations.

But several other patent-infringement suits are still scheduled for trial later this year in San Diego.