BRCM v. QCOM: The Santa Ana Patent Case Up on Appeal

Implications: There are two big BRCM/QCOM cases rapidly moving toward their final scenes: the ITC case, which I discuss in a previous post; and the Santa Ana patent case, where BRCM asserts three patents.  Earlier this month, the Federal Circuit heard the appeal in the Santa Ana case; and if they heard the issues the way I did, QCOM gained considerable ground, in particular on the '686 patent.

Analysis: In addition to the ITC case, BRCM is also litigating a pure patent case against QCOM where BRCM alleges that QCOM infringes three separate patents.  BRCM won the case at jury, but QCOM is now appealing all three losses at the Federal Circuit.  Oral argument was heard in early July.

The most important patent is the '686, because that one would have implications for WCDMA chipsets.  QCOM thus used most of its firepower to attack that loss.  QCOM's primary point is a simple one: the patent, as written, has a significant mistake in it; and the lower court saw the mistake and generously corrected it, rather than forcing BRCM to live with the defect.  That, QCOM argues, is kind but impermissible.

My view aligns with QCOM's view.  The '686 is written in a way that might even render its core claim invalid.  And the lower court did come up with a way to fix the problem.  But the lower court is not allowed to do such a thing; patent holders have to live with the language they chose.  Thus the lower court's reading probably should be reversed; and, if it is, the patent would not be much of a threat to QCOM under the new (correct) reading.

The other two patents in the case are more dicey.  I worry less about those, however, because their implications are less sweeping.  One of them, for instance, seems to primarily impact only QCHAT.  That is unfortunate for Sprint and obviously disappointing to QCOM; but, as long as the '686 gets a clean bill of health, QCOM can live with the other losses and/or negotiate a settlement that would be of modest cost at most.

Expect a decision on the appeal in roughly four months.