A US trade panel banned certain mobile phones using chips made by Qualcomm, saying they infringed on a patent held by rival maker Broadcom.

The International Trade Commission said the 3G chips for phones operated by Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T infringed on a US patent held by its fellow California firm Broadcom.



A range of litigation has been swirling around patents for mobile phone technology. Last month, a US jury ordered Qualcomm to pay 19.6 million dollars to Broadcom for a separate patent infringement case.

Nokia this year paid Qualcomm 20 million dollars covering the second quarter of 2007 to settle a dispute over patents.

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