Broadcom Corp. says that the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has rejected claims by GPS chipmaker SiRF Technology Holdings that two of its GPS patents were infringed by Global Locate, a company Broadcom acquired in July 2007. The ITC also found that the asserted claims of one of SiRF's patents at issue are invalid.

ITC Administrative Law Judge Paul Luckern issued his Initial Determination today, following a six-day trial last March in Washington, D.C.

Broadcom, through its acquisition of Global Locate, is a provider of GPS and assisted GPS semiconductor solutions, and is currently shipping GPS functionality into a variety of products including personal navigation devices and cellular handsets.

Broadcom's own claims against SiRF went to trial in the ITC last April. An initial determination in that case, heard before Administrative Law Judge Carl Charneski, is expected by August 8, 2008.

"We are extremely pleased by Judge Luckern's findings that we did not infringe on SiRF's GPS patents, and we look forward to Judge Charneski's decision in our case against SiRF," said David Rosmann, Broadcom's Vice President, Intellectual Property Litigation.

Rosmann noted that SiRF had originally pursued four patent infringement claims against Global Locate in the ITC, but later dropped two of those claims prior to trial. Global Locate filed six claims of patent infringement against SiRF in the ITC, plus four claims in U.S. District Court prior to its acquisition by Broadcom. Additionally, last month, Broadcom filed four additional, separate claims against SiRF in U.S. District Court.

"We filed our May lawsuit after numerous good faith attempts by Broadcom to resolve the patent disputes between us and SiRF earlier this year," Rosmann said. "Prior to the ITC hearings, we were optimistic that we would be able to cooperatively resolve our disputes. However, as that prospect dimmed, we moved forward with additional steps to protect our intellectual property rights. We remain open to reaching a mutually acceptable resolution in these disputes."

Source:cellular-news