Yet again we have companies using the courts to eliminate competition. I wonder how much of this is really patent violation, and how much just trying to knock out the other guys?

The global patent battle between Qualcomm Inc. and Broadcom Corp. for supremacy in a fast-growing segment of the wireless-telephone industry may be decided in an obscure corner of the Washington bureaucracy.

Broadcom, of Irvine, California, is asking an International Trade Commission official to decide next week to bar the importation of handsets that use technology from San Diego-based Qualcomm. Broadcom says the Qualcomm technology, which provides high-speed Internet access and lets users view high-quality videos, violates patents on its chips.

The outcome of the fight may determine control of the U.S. market for so-called 3G, or third-generation, wireless handsets, a market that exceeded $1 billion last year. The stakes are so high for both companies that some experts say they would be foolish not to reach a settlement, rather than risk an adverse decision.

So settlement, or a courtroom battle?