Qualcomm drops damages suit against TI

Qualcomm drops damages suit against TI

Robert Keenan
Aug 17, 2004 (6:00 PM)
URL: http://www.commsdesign.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=29101348

WAYNE, N.J. — Qualcomm Inc. dropped a lawsuit against Texas Instruments on Monday (Aug. 16) in Delaware that would have allowed the San Diego-based company to gain damages from a nonmaterial breach of a CDMA licensing agreement.

Qualcomm and TI have been battling in court for the past year over a potential breach of a CDMA patent licensing agreement signed by the two wireless developers. After a year of court battles, the Delaware Chancery Court ruled in July that TI breached the patent licensing agreement.

The court also ruled this was a nonmaterial breach, thus eliminating Qualcomm's claim that the original licensing agreement could be terminated.

Despite declining to terminate the licensing agreement, the court said it would hear arguments from Qualcomm regarding any damages encountered through TI's disclosure of patent information. However, on the day the damages suit was supposed to start, Qualcomm opted in court to drop its claim for damages, according to a TI spokeswoman.

The legal battle is not over, however. Just days before it dropped the damages lawsuit, Qualcomm issued an amended counterclaim against TI in the Delaware court in an attempt to convince the court to end the licensing agreement.

The Chancery court heard arguments on Monday dealing with the amended counterclaim. Both companies will now present briefs that the court will use as the basis for its judgment on the amended claim.