The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has temporarily lifted a ban that prevented mobile carriers from importing mobile phones that used Qualcomm 3G chipsets into the United States. The court made the decision based on the fact that Broadcom has filed its ITC complaint only against Qualcomm. Essentially, Qualcomm itself is still banned from importing the chips but others who use the chipset are not. Third parties freed of the ban pending Qualcomm’s appeal include AT&T, T-Mobile, Motorola, Kyocera, Samsung, Sanyo and LG Electronics.
The original ITC (International Trade Commission) ruling was due to a decision that Qualcomm had violated a Broadcom Corp. patent for a process that kicks in to save battery power when the device cannot pick up any cellular coverage.
The lift on the ban will remain in effect while Qualcomm’s appeal makes its way through the US court system. For now at least, it removes any uncertainty for mobile carriers thinking of bringing new devices into the US.