Cell Phones Barred

A federal agency on Thursday banned the import of new models of cell phones because they contain semiconductors. These are made by Qualcomm.com and the chips violate a patent held be a rival company, Broadcom Corporation. This was the decision of the U.S. International Trade Commission. The decision represents a compromise between a ban on all phones with Qualcomm chips, as Broadcom requested, and a ban only on the chips themselves, as recommended by an ITC administrative law judge late last year.