Qualcomm’s top lawyer has left following a string of court defeats for the mobile technology vendor. Lou Lupin has resigned as executive vice president and general counsel, the company said in a statement Monday. The announcement came just days after Qualcomm failed to win a reversal of an import ban on new cell phones that use some of its chips and also was told it can’t enforce some patents on video technology. Qualcomm didn’t refer to these developments in its statement, in which it said Lupin’s work had greatly benefited the company. But the San Diego company’s many legal battles have turned bloody recently. It is embroiled in complex intellectual-property disputes with both Nokia and phone-chip rival Broadcom. Carol Lam, currently senior vice president and legal counsel, will serve as acting general counsel while Qualcomm searches nationwide for Lupin’s replacement. Lam joined Qualcomm’s legal team in February after serving as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California since 2002. A large part of Qualcomm’s business is based on licensing of its intellectual property. The company pioneered code division multiple access (CDMA), which forms the basis of most third-generation technologies, and also holds a range of other patents. It has a reputation for jealously guarding its technologies and charging higher royalty rates than do other mobile equipment vendors, charges the company denies.In June, the U.S. International Trade Commission ordered a ban on importation of new-model devices that use certain Qualcomm chips that were found to violate Broadcom patents. Last Monday, the Bush administration declined a request to reverse that ban. Qualcomm is still appealing the ban in court. Also last week, in another Broadcom case a federal judge ruled that Qualcomm had improperly hid patents from the standards body in charge of the H.264 video standard. As part of its penalty, Qualcomm can’t enforce those patents, the judge ruled. Lupin joined Qualcomm in 1995 and became its general counsel in 2000.— Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service (San Francisco Bureau) Related content news analysis Cisco unveils AI-powered assistants to level up security defenses New AI-driven tools aim to simplify and bolster policies, alerts and prevention to reduce complexity when setting security policies and assess traffic without decryption. By Rosalyn Page Dec 05, 2023 5 mins Encryption Cloud Security brandpost Sponsored by Microsoft Security How Microsoft and Amazon are expanding the fight against international tech support fraud By partnering with other companies to share vital information and resources, Microsoft is taking the fight to ever-evolving support fraud in 2024…and beyond. By Microsoft Security Dec 05, 2023 1 min Security news analysis Russia's Fancy Bear launches mass credential collection campaigns The campaigns exploit Outlook and WinRAR flaws to target government, defense, and other entities, and they represent a change of tactic for the APT28 group. By Lucian Constantin Dec 05, 2023 5 mins Advanced Persistent Threats Critical Infrastructure Vulnerabilities brandpost Sponsored by Palo Alto Networks Addressing vulnerabilities in OT environments requires a Zero Trust approach Here’s a rundown of why manufacturers are so exposed and how Zero Trust can help solve many security issues. By Navneet Singh, vice president of marketing, network security, Palo Alto Networks Dec 05, 2023 6 mins Security Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe