Court turns down Qualcomm appeal

WASHINGTON - A federal court on Friday dismissed a request by Qualcomm Inc. to delay an import ban on new cell phones containing the company's chips, which were were found to infringe patents held by Broadcom Corp.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said it did not have jurisdiction to consider Qualcomm's request, because the import limits are still under review by the Bush administration. The administration has until August 6 to decide whether to veto the import limits.

The court said it would not consider an appeal until after the 60-day presidential review was complete.

The court "made no determination of the substantive merits" of Qualcomm's appeal, said Emily Kilpatrick, a spokeswoman for the company.

Kilpatrick said Qualcomm would renew its appeal and seek a delay in the ban after Aug. 6 if the administration does not reverse the import limits.

The U.S. International Trade Commission imposed the ban June 7 after ruling that Qualcomm's chips infringed a Broadcom patent on battery power-saving technology.

Mobile phone makers such as Motorola Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. joined Qualcomm's appeal, as did Sprint Nextel Corp.

In an additional blow to Qualcomm, Verizon Wireless, an affiliate of Verizon Communications Inc., withdrew its support for the appeal yesterday, after a striking a deal with Broadcom to license its technology.

Shares of Qualcomm rose 7 cents to $43.41 in afternoon trading Friday.

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