Qualcomm and Broadcom are back in the court room arguing over another set of Broadcom patents, covering video compression for mobile phones, walkie-talkie style wireless technology, and simultaneous communication between different types of networks, which in May a jury said Qualcomm was infringing. Broadcom is proposing an 18-month phase out of the disputed chips to “prevent disruption of mobile phone supplies”, with EV-DO chips being excluded if Qualcomm coughs up a 6 percent license fee to Broadcom, reports AP. With these patents the issue doesn’t seem to be about money: Reuters reports that Qualcomm claimed it offered a “significant royalty” for the patents while it appeals the verdict and asked the judge to force Broadcom to accept it—but Broadcom is seeking a cross-license agreement that would allow it to use some of Qualcomm’s patents. The hearing will continue, but overall it seems Qualcomm is getting hammered on several fronts in the courts. However, even if Qualcomm loses completely in this case it won’t be as disruptive as the ITC import ban, with the worse Broadcom asking for being the slow phase out and the judge actually unable to institute a ban. Other points that have come up in the stories:

—Last week the judge doubled the amount the jury had awarded against Qualcomm to $39.9 million and told the company to pay Broadcom’s attorney fees.

—Broadcom doesn’t sell WCDMA chips in the US, which “would appear to undermine Broadcom’s argument that it would suffer irreparable harm if Qualcomm, a major WCDMA chip supplier, continued selling its chips”.

—Qualcomm argued that a ban on the chips would give Verizon Wireless an unfair advantage, since it has agreed to pay Broadcom $6 for each phone with a Qualcomm chip which I’m pretty sure covers everything, while Sprint hasn’t signed a deal. This is a ridiculous argument since Sprint is also able to sign exactly the same deal with Broadcom.