Broadcom sues Emulex for patent infringement

NEW YORK, USA: Chipmaker Broadcom Corp said on Monday it sued Emulex Corp for patent infringement, following Broadcom's unsuccessful bid earlier this year to buy the storage technology company.

Broadcom said it filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, saying Emulex infringes 10 of its patents related to high-speed data and storage networking including Fibre Channel over Ethernet, an emerging technology that helps boost network speeds.

Emulex shares fell 2.9 percent to $10.22 after-hours after Broadcom said it was seeking both monetary damages and injunctive relief to stop Emulex's infringement.

Broadcom withdrew its $912 million bid in July after Emulex rejected it as too low.

Emulex was not immediately available for comment on Monday.

Broadcom said the patents in question were part of its portfolio of more than 3,580 U.S. patents and 1,350 foreign patents, and that the move was consistent with its history of protecting its intellectual property.

In April another Broadcom rival, Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O: Quote, Profile, Research), agreed to pay the company $891 million to settle a patent infringement case that lasted about four years.

"As we developed our 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.

Broadcom shares were unchanged after closing 18 cents lower at $30.01 on Nasdaq.

Emulex said in a statement it is reviewing the patents associated with the Broadcom complaint.

"Emulex has a policy of vigorously defending the company against assertions of this kind," it said. The company said due to the pending litigation it was unable to comment further.