Qualcomm says it won‘t rock 3G boat

Qualcomm says it won‘‘t rock 3G boat
Qualcomm, the hardware company which owns crucial patents for next-generation mobile-phone technologies said its ongoing legal battle against Nokia will not harm the roll-out of 3G on GSM networks, including in India.
Pleading that the case of Nokia and Broadcom, the two GSM equipment manufacturers against whom it has sought restraining orders and monetary compensation, was a special one, the California-based company said it has no intention of following up on similar violations by other GSM companies.
"We do not have any plans, nor does it seem likely, that we will lodge any similar complaints against other manufacturers," Lou Lupin, the company‘‘s top legal expert and General Counsel told in a telephonic interview.
The clarification has come in the wake of speculation that Qualcomm may follow up its complaints against Nokia with similar prosecutions against other manufacturers like Motorola, all of whom have used Qualcomm‘‘s technology to improve their current networks.
Qualcomm claims that it has not entered into even a single agreement to licence the use of its CDMA technology to improve current generation GSM networks.
"We wish to state that this will not affect in anyway the implementation of the WCDMA (the leading technology for adoption n next-generation GSM networks, including for those in India.) We have followed up on Nokia and Broadcom only because we have other disagreements with the companies," Lou explained.
The company had two days ago announced that it had approached legal authorities in San Diego in the US seeking damages and a restraining order against Nokia for using its CDMA technology to improve the data-carrying capacity of its GSM networks.
The company had alleged that the two company, along with the chip-manufacturer Broadcom, was illegally using "elements" of its technology to improve its existing networks that run on GSM technologies such as EDGE and GPRS. Qualcomm claimed that the ‘‘misused‘‘ technologies had been licensed to them only for use in their generation (3G) equipment and not to improve their current technology.
The action, Qualcomm claimed, had blunted the competitive advantage of its own proprietary technology called the CDMA 2000 in its fight with the existing GSM technologies which use EDGE and GPRS. Both CDMA 2000 and EDGE-GPRS are being used by networks in India.
Nokia, however, has grabbed upon the move to highlight the what it calls the "discriminatory" and "unfair" trade tactics used by Qualcomm to push its hardware products such as the chips used in phone-manufacturing.
The company, just two weeks ago, complained to European Union Authorities that the US company was demanding more money from it for licensing rights to its technology compared to its competitors who used Qualcomm‘‘s chips in their manufacturing process.
It claimed that Qualcomm, which had "essential and valid patents" for technologies which had to be used by all mobile-phone manufacturers, was not licensing the same on "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms to everyone.
"We believe that this claim is further evidence that Qualcomm does not honor its obligations to standards-setting organisations, and uses litigation against any party that disagrees with it," the Finnish corporation‘‘s Communications Vice President, Arja Suominen told.
Nokia also contends that it would not have invested heavily in developing the WCDMA standard if it had known that Qualcomm would charge differential rates from it and its competitors. Lupin however defended his company‘‘s rights to offer flexible rates to different manufacturers.
"Being party to regulatory agreements does not mean that we are required to give the same deal to every company," Lupin said, "as long as our demands are not unreasonable or unfair... We have the right to allow easier terms for companies with whom we may have other trade agreements, such as an exchange of patent rights."