Qualcomm can use rival chip patents till 09

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A federal judge in California ruled on Monday that wireless chip maker Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) can keep selling some chips whose designs infringe patents held by rival Broadcom Corp (BRCM.O) through January 2009.

U.S. District Judge James Selna ruled, however, that Qualcomm must immediately stop selling third-generation, or 3G, WCDMA cellular chips that infringe on the Broadcom patents.

Qualcomm also is restricted to selling only EV-DO cellular chips it was offering as of May 29, 2007 -- when a Santa Ana, California jury found that it infringed on the Broadcom patents -- and only to customers it had as of that date, a Broadcom attorney said.

A Broadcom spokesman had no immediate comment because the company's attorneys were still reviewing the ruling. A Qualcomm representative could not immediately be reached for comment.

Qualcomm also must pay mandatory royalties to Broadcom for the chips it sells during the "sunset period" ending January 31, 2009.

After that date, Selna ruled that Qualcomm is permanently barred from infringing those Broadcom patents, which cover video compression for mobile phones, walkie-talkie-style technology and simultaneous communications between different types of networks.

Broadcom had asked the judge to impose mandatory license fees for two of the infringed patents for a limited set of Qualcomm products. The licenses would have expired after an 18-month sunset period, after which Qualcomm would have been barred from using the technology.

Broadcom also wanted an immediate and permanent ban with no exceptions for the third patent, on its QChat walkie-talkie function.

Qualcomm had offered to pay three times the amount of a "reasonable royalty" so that it could continue using Broadcom's patented technology with no injunction.

(Reporting by Gina Keating, editing by Richard Chang)