Qualcomm found guilty of patent ambush http://www.digitalmajority.org/forum/t-15933/qualcomm-found-guilty-of-patent-ambush Posts in the discussion thread "Qualcomm found guilty of patent ambush" - The Register reports that Qualcomm has been found guilty in San Diego of ambushing the H.264 video standard with undeclared patents. If this ruling is upheld, we could see the beginning of the end of patent ambushes on standards. Let the vendor beware! http://www.digitalmajority.org/forum/t-15933#post-40139 Qualcomm found guilty of patent ambush http://www.digitalmajority.org/forum/t-15933/qualcomm-found-guilty-of-patent-ambush#post-40139 Thu, 09 Aug 2007 06:49:03 +0000 pieterh 99 The Register reports:

"Qualcomm was an active member of the Joint Video Team (JVT) which defined the H.264 video standard, now used extensively in mobile phone video applications. But while doing so it failed to mention owning at least two patents which anyone implementing the standard would need to license.
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When Broadcom started development of chips using the standard, Qualcomm, "without any prior letter, email, telephone call, or even a smoke signal, let alone attempt to license Broadcom, Qualcomm filed the instant lawsuit against Broadcom for infringement of the '104 and '767 patents", the court said."

This is the first time we're aware of a court indicating that there is anything wrong with allowing a standard to be developed and used, while keeping patents hidden. If Qualcomm's appeal is denied, this will send a strong signal to patent trolls everywhere that patent ambush is a no-no. Expect a lot of angry patent trolls holders supporting this particular troll's appeal.

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