Qualcomm wins appeal in $173 mln ParkerVision case

By Andrew Chung NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday upheld a lower court's decision to clear Qualcomm Inc in a patent lawsuit by ParkerVision Inc, allowing it to escape a $173 million verdict for infringement. Trading in ParkerVision shares was halted on the Nasdaq after the price fell 50 percent to 23 cents. ParkerVision had accused Qualcomm of infringing its patents beginning in 2006 over a means to convert radio frequency signals, and incorporating its technology in products sold for use in mobile devices such as smartphones. In June, 2014, a federal judge in Florida overturned a jury verdict that had ordered Qualcomm to pay ParkerVision $173 million for infringing patents for technology used in smartphones. On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed that ruling. It also invalidated three of the ParkerVision patents in the case, and all but one element of the fourth. Qualcomm's stock was virtually unchanged. (Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)