Broadcom claimed victory against Qualcomm today when a court cleared the way for Samsung and Panasonic to continue using Broadcom's chips in WCDMA-based 3G handsets without facing Qualcomm's patent infringement claims.

The US district court granted partial summary judgment in favour of Broadcom in a ruling that Broadcom customers Samsung and Panasonic are permitted to use Broadcom's chips in their WCDMA-based mobile handsets under the terms of their existing patent licences with Qualcomm.

David Rosmann, Broadcom's vice president of intellectual property litigation, said: "This is an important victory for Broadcom because it removes the threat of Qualcomm launching patent infringement suits against our current 3G customers, and substantially reduces the scope of Qualcomm's patent claims against Broadcom's 3G business."

He added that the ruling provides "breathing room" for Broadcom customers to deploy next-generation handsets without the risk of litigation, and will accelerate the deployment of 3G networks worldwide.

Broadcom filed its motion for partial summary judgment in December 2006 in response to Qualcomm's claim that Broadcom's sales of 3G WCDMA chips infringe a patent asserted by Qualcomm in the ongoing patent litigation between the companies.

The court agreed with Broadcom that Samsung and Panasonic are licensed to incorporate Broadcom's 3G cellular chips into WCDMA-based handsets.

The ruling did not address Qualcomm's remaining claims of direct infringement against Broadcom's US-based testing.