It looks like Qualcomm got some good news this past Friday when a judge recommended that the U.S. International Trade Commission stop its investigation into patent infringement charges faced by Qualcomm. Back in June, the ITC found that a Qualcomm 3G chipset violated some Broadcom Corp. patents. As a result, they called for a ban on any device using the chipset in question.
Since then, there have been quite a few developments, including a presidential review, mobile carriers making deals with Broadcom to avoid the ban and most recently a temporary lifting of the ban).
Given that Nokia (which filed the original complaint) and Qualcomm are currently in arbitration over the issue, ITC Administrative Law Judge Paul Luckern recommended that the investigation be stopped. The ITC has 30 days to review the decision and if it is not challenged, the investigation will end. This would mean the end of further bans against Qualcomm.
It will be a long 30 days for some at Qualcomm.