Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

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UPDATE - Court narrows dispute in TI-Qualcomm patent spat
Thursday July 1, 8:51 am ET

NEW YORK, July 1 (Reuters) - Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE:TXN - News) said on Thursday a Delaware court had signaled that rival wireless chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. (NasdaqNM:QCOM - News) would not be entitled to cancel TI's rights to use Qualcomm's patented technology.

But the Delaware Chancery Court also ruled out Texas Instrument's contention that Qualcomm had violated a patent licensing agreement between the two wireless chipmakers by granting royalty discounts to certain mobile handset makers.

Texas Instruments of Dallas said that the court had sided with TI's contention that the disclosure of the terms of a technology patent license agreement with Qualcomm had not been a material breach of confidentiality.

The court will consider Qualcomm's claims for damages based on a nonmaterial breach of the companies' cross-licensing deal at a trial set to begin Aug. 16, TI said. Qualcomm had filed suit against TI on July 25, 2003. TI countersued in September last year alleging that Qualcomm had granted royalty discounts to handset makers using its wireless chips.

The court indicated that it intends to grant Qualcomm's motion that it did not breach the agreement on this issue.

The court is expected to issue a written opinion confirming these indications, TI said.

Shares of Qualcomm were up 23 cents at $73.21 in pre-open trading from their closing price on Wednesday of $72.98. TI stock rose 22 cents to $24.40, up from $24.18 on Wednesday.

http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040701/telecoms_texasinstruments_qualcomm_1.html