One More Round: Court of Appeals Affirms All but Scope of Remedy, Remands with Specific Instructions to Narrow Scope
Qualcomm Inc. v. Broadcom Corp., 548 F.3d 1004 (Fed. Cir. 2008)
On December 1, 2008, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its opinion affirming the lower court’s findings that Qualcomm breached its duty to disclose the patents at issue in the underlying case and thus waived the enforceability of those patents. The Court of Appeals also upheld the lower court’s finding that this constituted an “exceptional case,” and the resulting award of attorney’s fees to Broadcom. The Court of Appeals took exception, however, to the scope of the waiver remedy articulated by the lower court, vacated that portion of the order and remanded the case with instructions to narrow the scope.