InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[mschere]

Some old Qualcomm complaints about Ericsson's corrupt pattern of conduct.


SAN DIEGO - December 10, 1996 - QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced that it has filed suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California against Ericsson, Inc. and Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson ("Ericsson"), Civil Action No. 962064 K(CGA).

The complaint alleges unfair competition by Ericsson based on a pattern of conduct intended to impede the acceptance and commercial deployment of QUALCOMM's Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology and products by the telecommunications industry. The pattern of conduct, as alleged in the complaint, includes publication by Ericsson of false and disparaging statements about QUALCOMM's CDMA technology and the assertion by Ericsson of baseless claims of patent infringement against QUALCOMM's CDMA products. QUALCOMM's complaint also charges that Ericsson's patent infringement claims violate a 1989 nondisclosure agreement between the two companies in which Ericsson expressly acknowledged that key elements of QUALCOMM's CDMA technology, such as soft handoff, power control, and multiple receivers to mitigate multipath interference, were proprietary to QUALCOMM. In addition, QUALCOMM's lawsuit seeks a judicial declaration that certain of Ericsson's patents are not infringed by QUALCOMM and are invalid.