BRD Bluerock Diamonds Plc

RNS Number:8116E
Broadcom Corp.
28 September 2007



                                                                 1 October, 2007


European Commission's continuing investigation of Qualcomm is welcomed


Broadcom, Ericsson, NEC, Nokia, Panasonic Mobile Communications and Texas
Instruments welcome the continuation of the investigation by the European
Commission into complaints regarding anti-competitive practices by Qualcomm.
While each company has made an individual complaint, they share concerns about
Qualcomm's practices. The companies believe that these practices are harmful to
the mobile telecommunications industry globally and, in particular undermine
confidence in standards-setting processes, threaten the supply of WCDMA
chipsets, impede innovation, and raise the costs of third-generation (3G)
technology and handsets. As a result, carriers and consumers face higher prices
and fewer choices.


The complaints refer to Qualcomm's breach of European Union (EU) competition law
and failure to meet the commitments it made to international standard-setting
organisations that it would license its declared essential patents on fair,
reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. Without these commitments, WCDMA
technology would not have been commercially implemented as part of the UMTS 3G
standard in Europe and elsewhere. The companies alleged that Qualcomm has
violated EU competition rules by charging disproportionate and discriminatory
royalties for its declared WCDMA essential patents. They also stated that
Qualcomm violates those rules by trying to exclude competing manufacturers of
chipsets for mobile phones from the market and to prevent others from entering.
These actions, in addition to breaching the European Union's competition law,
are in breach of Qualcomm's commitments to standard-setting bodies.


The Commission has decided to allocate priority to the continuing investigation
following the lodging of the complaints in October 2005. The companies welcome
this decision and confirm their continued cooperation with the European
Commission.



-Ends-


Enquiries

Brunswick

Joanna McDwyer +44 20 7404 5959

Broadcom +1 949 926 5555

Bill Blanning


Ericsson

Rob Elston +46 8 719 6992

NEC +44 20 8752 2794

Chris Shimizu


Nokia +852 6971 6918

Anne Eckert


Panasonic Mobile Communications +49 611 235305

Mike Takeda


Texas Instruments +1 214 480 6808

Gail Chandler



Note to editors: The following quotes about the EC's decision are from each of
the companies that filed formal complaints.


Broadcom: ""Broadcom welcomes the Commission's decision to continue its
investigation of Qualcomm's practices. The decision underscores the significant
policy issues at stake and the importance of ensuring the future viability both
of industry standards-setting processes and of a level playing field for
competing providers of chipsets and intellectual property in the 3G space, which
Qualcomm's conduct otherwise threatens to undermine. We believe that the EC
plays an important role, in our case and others, in ensuring conditions where
fair competition helps promote product innovation
and technology advancements that ultimately benefit consumers in Europe
and throughout the world. The decision demonstrates Europe's continuing desire
to foster a competitive environment that will stimulate continued growth in the
global information economy." -- David A. Dull, Senior Vice President, Business
Affairs, and General Counsel, Broadcom Corporation.


Ericsson: "The success of a standard depends on the essential patent holders
honouring their FRAND commitments. In this case, a single patent holder --
Qualcomm -- is charging royalty rates much higher than other essential patent
owners. If the other patent holders were to do as Qualcomm is doing, royalties
could raise the cost of WCDMA handsets considerably -- thus raising the prices
to consumers. Ericsson is pleased the Commission has decided to continue its
investigation of this case." -- Kasim Alfalahi, Vice President, Patent
Licensing, Ericsson.


NEC: "NEC welcomes the European Commission's continuation of its investigation
as a step forward in solving the issues raised by Qualcomm's anti-competitive
business practices. NEC will continue to cooperate fully with the investigation
by the European Commission." -- Hideyuki Ogata, Vice President, Intellectual
Asset Management Unit, NEC Corporation.


Nokia: "The proper functioning of standardization requires that companies whose
patented technology is adopted into a standard commit to licence these patents
on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. Breaking these commitments
compromises the whole standardization process, stifles innovation and harms
consumers. We welcome the European Commission's continuation of the
investigation into Qualcomm's business conduct." -- Tero Ojanpera, Chief
Technology Officer, Nokia.


Panasonic: "Panasonic Mobile Communications fully supports the European
Commission's investigation into Qualcomm's anti-competitive behaviour and
disproportionate royalty rates in the mobile telecommunications sector. It is
essential for both current and future standards that companies which commit to
license their technologies on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms
adhere to those commitments." -- Yoshiaki Tokuda, Director, Intellectual
Property Center, Panasonic Mobile Communications Co., Ltd.


Texas Instruments: "We commend the Commission for deciding to continue its
investigation.  TI attaches great importance both to IP protection and to the
creation of open standards. Where leading technology companies have agreed to
contribute intellectual property and inventive genius to a standard, there is no
room for exclusionary and discriminatory practices." - Joseph F. Hubach, Senior
Vice President and General Counsel, Texas Instruments Incorporated.



                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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