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Appeals Court Affirms District Court Ruling That Qualcomm Abused Standards Setting Process and Engaged in Litigation Misconduct

Posted on: Monday, 1 December 2008, 12:58 CST

IRVINE, Calif., Dec. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, announced that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit today upheld a decision by a federal judge in San Diego that Qualcomm violated its duty to disclose its patents to a standards body and that, as a result, the patents are unenforceable against products practicing the standard at issue.

In today's ruling, the appeals court agreed with the district court "that Qualcomm intentionally organized a plan to shield its patents from consideration by the JVT, intending to later obtain royalties from H.264-compliant products."

The appeals court ruling is the latest chapter in a case that began in 2005 when Qualcomm sued Broadcom, alleging infringement of two patents related to the H.264 digital video compression standard, promulgated by the Joint Video Team (JVT). A jury unanimously found that Broadcom did not infringe the patents, and also recommended that the judge find that Qualcomm misled the JVT by failing to disclose its patents.

U.S. District Court Judge Rudi Brewster agreed with the jury's recommendation, subsequently ruling that Qualcomm had engaged in standards abuse and attempted to cover it up through aggravated litigation misconduct: "In light of all of the . . . evidence finally revealed, the eventual collapse of Qualcomm's concealment efforts exposes the carefully orchestrated plan and the deadly determination of Qualcomm to achieve its goal of holding hostage the entire industry desiring to practice the H.264 standard." Judge Brewster held that Qualcomm thereby waived its rights to enforce the patents, and ordered Qualcomm to pay all of Broadcom's reasonable attorneys' fees and costs reasonably incurred by Broadcom in defending the patent infringement case that led to the rulings.

"Qualcomm's standards abuse in this case is just the tip of the iceberg," said David Rosmann, Broadcom's Vice President, Intellectual Property Litigation. "We believe Qualcomm has violated the rules of the cellular standards bodies as well, a fact we are determined to bring to light in our other pending cases."

About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation is a major technology innovator and global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications. Broadcom products enable the delivery of voice, video, data and multimedia to and throughout the home, the office and the mobile environment. We provide the industry's broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art, system-on-a-chip and software solutions to manufacturers of computing and networking equipment, digital entertainment and broadband access products, and mobile devices. These solutions support our core mission: Connecting everything(R).

Broadcom is one of the world's largest fabless semiconductor companies, with 2007 revenue of $3.78 billion, and holds over 3,000 U.S. and 1,200 foreign patents, more than 7,500 additional pending patent applications, and

one of the broadest intellectual property portfolios addressing both wired and wireless transmission of voice, video, data and multimedia.

Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and has offices and research facilities in North America, Asia and Europe. Broadcom may be contacted at +1.949.926.5000 or at http://www.broadcom.com.

Cautions regarding Forward Looking Statements:

All statements included or incorporated by reference in this release, other than statements or characterizations of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry and business, management's beliefs, and certain assumptions made by us, all of which are subject to change. Forward-looking statements can often be identified by words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "predicts," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will," "should," "would," "could," "potential," "continue," "ongoing," similar expressions, and variations or negatives of these words. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statement. Important factors that may cause such a difference for Broadcom in connection with our litigation with Qualcomm include, but are not limited to:

-- our ability to prevail in the various federal and state lawsuits and other proceedings against Qualcomm, including any appeals; -- the ability of our patents to protect our intellectual property and products; -- our ability to enforce our intellectual property rights; and -- the risks associated with litigation in general, including the costs and time that must be devoted to litigation, the potential diversion of attention of management and key employees that may result from being engaged in litigation, and the possibility of adverse results.

Additional factors that may cause Broadcom's actual results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to the list that can be found at http://www.broadcom.com/press/additional_risk_factors/Q42008.php.

Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, recent Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other Securities and Exchange Commission filings discuss the foregoing risks as well as other important risk factors that could contribute to such differences or otherwise affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. The forward-looking statements in this release speak only as of this date. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statement, except as required by law.

Broadcom(R), the pulse logo, Connecting everything(R) and the Connecting everything logo are among the trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United States, certain other countries and/or the EU. Qualcomm and QChat(R) are trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated. Any other trademarks or trade names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

Broadcom Business Press Contact Bill Blanning Vice President, Global Media Relations 949-926-5555 blanning@broadcom.com Broadcom Financial Analyst Contact T. Peter Andrew Vice President, Corporate Communications 949-926-5663 andrewtp@broadcom.com

SOURCE Broadcom Corporation; BRCM Corporate

Source: PR Newswire

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