Qualcomm pays out $19.6 million to Broadcom in patent suit

Looks like the pockets of Qualcomm are going to be about $19.6 million lighter real soon, as a federal jury in Santa Ana, California returned verdicts that found "certain Qualcomm products" infringing on three patents owned by Broadcom Corporation. The lawsuit was originally filed way back in May of 2005 and alleged that five of its patents had been violated, but during the course of the trials, Broadcom ditched one of the claims while the court stayed the case with respect to a second. Notably, none of the patents that were infringed upon were "developed specifically in connection with cellular technology or standards," but the seemingly willful wrongdoing will indeed cost Qualcomm just shy of $20 million -- that is, until a trial judge mulls this thing over and determines if the firm should face any additional financial punishment "based on the finding of willfulness."