LAWFUEL – The Law Newswire – The Recorder reports that a week after the public learned of Qualcomm Inc.’s bombshell admission that it withheld potentially thousands of important documents in a high-stakes patent trial against Broadcom Corp., many in the intellectual property community are still buzzing about the gaffe.
The case is even more striking because the attorney who has publicly apologized for Qualcomm’s error has a strong reputation in his field, as does his firm. Yet several attorneys say it’s still too early to assign blame for the error.
“Whenever there are accusations of concealment of evidence and they prove to be true, there definitely is going to be harm to the lawyers and the parties,” said Anup Tikku, an IP associate with Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis, who has followed the case closely. “What I find difficult to understand is how Qualcomm interviewed witnesses, put them on the stand and did not realize these documents existed.”
Mobile technology company Qualcomm lost its patent infringement trial against semiconductor-maker Broadcom in January. Last week the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Qualcomm and its lead attorney at Day Casebeer Madrid & Batchelder subsequently fessed up to failing to turn over the documents during discovery. In letters to the judge, Day Casebeer partner James Batchelder and Qualcomm general counsel Louis Lupin said the documents contained facts that are “inconsistent with certain arguments that we made … at trial.”
