SiRF Loses Key ITC Ruling In Broadcom Case; Shrs Fall

SiRF Technology (SIRF) shares are trading lower this morning after Broadcom (BRCM) announced late yesterday that a U.S. International Trade Commission administrative law judge on Friday recommended the ITC bar the importation of products containing SIRF chips that violate Broadcom patents.

Broadcom says products affected by the ruling include personal navigation devices, GPS modules and receivers, PDAs and cell phones. The judge had previously found that SIRF infringes six Broadcom GPS-related patents.

An interesting question here is exactly which phones and GPS devices would be barred under the ruling; while it obviously hurts SIRF, there is the clear potential for spillover effects on other companies.

SIRF today is down 30 cents, or 15.1%, to $1.69.