LONDON — Fabless chip company Broadcom Corp. has filed a lawsuit that alleges that seven current and former employees stole its cell-phone chip designs, according to an Associated Press report published Wednesday (Nov. 23).
The Irvine California company filed a suit Nov. 3 in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, that alleges "a well-orchestrated, international scheme to steal from Broadcom trade secrets ... worth millions of dollars," the report said.
Leo Li, who was a senior director of Broadcom's Mobile Communications Division until Oct. 5, created a company called MagiComm Technology Inc. while he was working at Broadcom, the suit is reported to say.
The suit also alleges that Li recruited hired at least three former Broadcom employees and is attempting to take business away from Broadcom using Broadcom's chip designs, the report said.
The report quotes Brad Blocker, an attorney for Leo Li, as saying the claims were "fallacious and inflammatory."
Li and the other defendants came to Broadcom in 2002 as part of its acquisition of Mobilink Telecom Inc., a Santa Clara company that supplied mobile phone chips, the report said.
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