A US trade agency has banned imports of new mobile phones made with Qualcomm semiconductors due to a patent row.
The US International Trade Commission said today it was banning the phones because the Qualcomm chips violate a patent held by rival Broadcom.
The ruling will affect forthcoming handsets made by Motorola and Samsung, and also network providers such as Verizon, Sprint Nextel and AT&T.
Qualcomm and Verizon Wireless, the second-biggest US mobile service provider, said they planned to ask the Bush administration to invalidate the order and Qualcomm said it would seek an emergency stay from the US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals.
Paul Jacobs, CEO of Qualcomm, said the ITC had overstepped its authority with a ban he said would stop the sale of 'tens of millions' of phones in the future.
Qualcomm executives said they would look at ways to create designs that would avoid infringing the Broadcom patents but said this would take time.
A telecom analysts said the ban would hurt Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, both big users of Qualcomm chips. Sales at Motorola for the US market, could also be reduced, he said.
Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications and Vodafone, criticised the ruling.
'It's a bad order that essentially attempts to freeze innovation in cell phones, and it obviously won't stand through the process,' said spokesman James Gerace.
