Qualcomm's request for stay on ITC order denied

By Sinead Carew

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has denied Qualcomm Inc.'s (QCOM.O) request to stay an order banning imports of new phones with Qualcomm chips that the agency said infringe a Broadcom Corp. (BRCM.O) patent.

Qualcomm shares fell more than 1 percent after the news.

Earlier this month, the ITC, which said it was denying the stay in a document posted on its Web site on Thursday, banned imports of the new high-speed wireless phones with Qualcomm chips.

The ban exempted phone models that had already been imported by June 7.

Broadcom repeated earlier statements that it was ready to negotiate with Qualcomm for a patent licensing agreement.

Qualcomm was not immediately available for comment on Friday. Its executives have said recently that it could not accept terms Broadcom had offered for an agreement.

Qualcomm had asked a federal appeals court for an emergency stay of the ITC decision. The court gave the ITC until June 27 to argue why the ban should not be lifted while the appeal is heard.

Qualcomm has said it will also ask President Bush to veto the ITC decision. Bush has 60 days from the initial ruling to review the decision.

Oppenheimer analyst Lawrence Harris said the decision to deny the stay was not surprising.

"The venue to watch will be the appeals court, as it is the must likely venue for the ITC to be overruled," Harris said, noting that presidential vetoes of ITC decisions are rare.

Service providers Verizon Wireless -- a venture of Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ.N) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L) -- and Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N) would be hurt by the ban if it were not overturned, as they depend on phones with Qualcomm chips for the vast majority of their high-speed wireless services.

Phone makers such as South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (005930.KS) and LG Electronics Inc. (066570.KS), would also be hurt, as they are big Qualcomm chip customers.

Qualcomm shares were down 49 cents or 1 percent at $43.07 in afternoon trade on Nasdaq, while Broadcom shares were off 25 cents or 0.8 percent at $30.40.

(Additional reporting by Franklin Paul)