Broadcom Sues Emulex For Patent Infringement

By Benjamin Pimentel

Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) said late Monday that it has filed a lawsuit against Emulex Corp. (ELX), accusing the networking gear maker of patent infringement.

Shares of Emulex fell about 3% in after-hours trading, while Broadcom shares were trading flat.

In a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Broadcom alleged that Emulex infringes on 10 of its patents, covering a "broad range of high speed data and storage networking technologies."

The suit comes about two months after Broadcom withdrew its unsolicited bid for Emulex after a bitter takeover battle.

Broadcom, an Irvine-Calif.-based semiconductor company, designs chips for use across the communications spectrum, from networking to television sets to wireless handsets.

Its bid to buy Emulex was widely seen as Broadcom's attempt to plug a hole in its portfolio with Emulex, which makes so-called Fibre Channel chip products used in storage networking.

Broadcom said it discovered the alleged patent violations by Emulex as it was developing its own plans for the fibre channel over ethernet market.

"We discovered that Emulex is infringing multiple Broadcom patents in an effort to use Broadcom technology to compete against both our existing and future products," David Rosmann, Broadcom's vice president for intellectual property litigation, said in a statement.

"We believe Emulex is infringing a broad range of Broadcom patents; we are concerned that Emulex's infringement is pervasive," he added.

Broadcom said it is seeking "monetary damages and injunctive relief to stop Emulex's continued infringement."

Representatives from Emulex couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

-By Benjamin Pimentel; 415-439-6400; [e-mail]