SCOTUS rejects ParkerVision v Qualcomm patent row

The US Supreme Court has declined to hear a patent dispute between chip company ParkerVision and Qualcomm.

The decision brings to a close a five-year lawsuit that initially went in ParkerVision’s favour.

Florida-based ParkerVision, which claims to have patented the technology that led to the invention of the smartphone, sued Qualcomm in 2011 at the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

The case centred on four ParkerVision patents, US numbers 6,061,551; 6,266,518; 6,370,371; and 7,496,342.

All four related to technology for “down-converting” electromagnetic signals. Down-converting refers to converting a modulated high-frequency electromagnetic signal into a low-frequency signal in an electronic device including a wireless receiver.

In 2013, the court found in favour of ParkerVision and ordered Qualcomm to pay $173 million in damages.

But the verdict was voided in 2014 after the same court ruled that the evidence did not support the jury’s findings.

ParkerVision appealed against the decision to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. But in July last year the court found in favour of Qualcomm, prompting ParkerVision to file a writ of certiorari at the Supreme Court.

In its decision, handed down on Monday, March 28, the court rejected the petition.

Jeffrey Parker, chief executive of ParkerVision, said he was disappointed that the court had decided not to “hear and weigh in” on an important matter.

“The federal circuit’s disregard for a jury’s factual findings in arriving at a verdict allows infringers to arbitrarily and unfairly capitalise on those inventions after the jury has found infringement,” he added.

ParkerVision has a separate case against Qualcomm, Apple, LG and Samsung pending at the US International Trade Commission. The case, which was filed in January this year, focuses on different patents.