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Qualcomm’s New General Counsel Enjoyed Long Career at Tech Giant IBM

You could say Donald Rosenberg just got the toughest legal job in the city when he was named general counsel for Qualcomm Inc., maybe as tough as being the No. 2 lawyer working for San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre.

San Diego’s Qualcomm, a maker of chip sets for wireless communications, has been taking it on the chin of late, notably losing a huge patent lawsuit to rival chip-maker Broadcom Corp., and having a ban put on the sale of its chips in this country by a federal government agency.

Plus, as a result of the company’s legal team not providing all of the evidence requested by Broadcom attorneys in the recent patent litigation, 14 attorneys representing Qualcomm face sanctions.

In a separate case involving Broadcom that Qualcomm lost, the company was ordered to pay Broadcom’s legal fees. It’s also spending millions in litigation against Nokia.

Rosenberg comes to Qualcomm from Apple Inc., another company that has had its share of legal problems, but has been riding high in recent years with the iPod and iPhone.

Rosenberg spent only 10 months as Apple’s general counsel. Previously, he was employed by IBM for 30 years, most recently as general counsel, but he held other positions, including assistant general counsel for litigation.

“Don is a talented lawyer who will immediately provide valuable insights to our executive and legal teams as he manages and directs the company’s complex worldwide litigation,” said Chief Executive Officer Paul Jacobs in a press statement.

Rosenberg replaces interim general counsel Carol Lam, who held the job since August after longtime general counsel Lou Lupin resigned.

Lupin, who joined Qualcomm in 1995, apparently is taking the fall for the company’s legal setbacks.

Lam joined Qualcomm in February as a senior vice president after she was forced to resign as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California in San Diego by then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who himself was forced to resign last month.

At his new job, Rosenberg heads up one of the largest corporate legal forces in San Diego, with 100 attorneys and more than two dozen paralegals, according to an inside source.

The company declined to provide the head count for its legal staff, saying it does not break out numbers for employee groups or departments.

In other news, Qualcomm amended earlier forecasted estimates on its financial results for the fourth quarter that ended Sept. 30. The company said it is now expecting fourth-quarter revenue at the high end of prior guidance of about $2.15 billion and $2.25 billion, and diluted net earnings between 64 and 65 cents per share. The news sent shares of Qualcomm, traded on Nasdaq under QCOM, up 26 cents Sept. 25 to close at $41.55. As of Oct. 1, shares were at $42.09.

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SYS Sales Expand, But Net Loss Remains:

SYS Technologies Inc., a provider of information technology services mainly to federal agencies, reported revenue for the fiscal year ended June 30 increased by $19 million to $77.4 million, yet its net loss stayed the same as the prior year at $1.7 million.

For the fourth quarter, SYS reported revenue of $21.3 million, up 26 percent from the prior year’s fourth quarter.

The company said a reduction in the scope of its product offerings combined with other cost reductions reduced operating losses in the fourth quarter.

During the year, SYS increased its contracted backlog of projects from $34 million to $48 million at the end of this fiscal year.

For the 2008 fiscal year, SYS forecast revenue in its first quarter in the range of $17 million to $19 million and to make a profit.

Traded on the American Stock Exchange under SYS, shares closed Oct. 1 at $2.25, and have ranged from $1.73 to $3.14 in the past 52 weeks.

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NCR Spins Off Teradata:

Teradata Corp., a unit of Dayton, Ohio-based NCR Corp. that has about 1,000 employees at a site in Rancho Bernardo, was spun off Oct. 1 when shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under TDC.

Teradata describes itself as a data warehousing and enterprise analytics company. The spinoff helps large corporations collect, store, integrate and analyze all manner of data on business operations so that its customers can improve their operations.

Last year, Teradata reported $1.56 billion in sales, up from $1.47 billion in the prior year.

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Dalrada Corp. Reduces Debt:

Dalrada Corp., a San Diego payroll and staffing company, said after a previously announced resolution of $8 million in indebtedness, the company is implementing a new strategy that includes launching a national marketing campaign.

The company has yet to file quarterly reports for the most recently completed quarters, but for the year ended June 30, 2006, it reported net income of $2.6 million on $70.4 million in revenue. That compared with the prior year when it had a net loss of $4.2 million on revenue of $19.5 million.

For the first nine months of the 2007 fiscal year, Dalrada reported a net loss of $13.3 million on $68.6 million in revenue.

Traded on the Over the Counter Bulletin Board under DFCO.OB, shares closed Oct. 1 at 15 cents, and have ranged from 11 cents to 99 cents in the past 52 weeks.

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Solera Holdings Invests In Japanese Firm:

Solera Holdings Inc., a San Diego provider of software and services for the auto insurance claims processing industry, said it made an equity investment in Audatex Japan Ltd., which is based in Tokyo. The companies will share database and application development technology that will benefit both firms.

The amount of the investment was not disclosed. Solera has operations in 49 countries and five continents.

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Ticker Takes:

Cubic Corp.’s Defense Applications unit received a $50.3 million contract from Lockheed Martin Corp. for the design and integration of an embedded version of a new air combat training system for the Joint Strike Fighter. Cricket Communications, the wireless carrier operated by Leap Wireless International Inc., announced the introduction of Kyocera Lingo, a new handset made by Kyocera Wireless Corp. ImageWare Systems closed a $3 million private placement of about 2 million shares of common stock at $1.50 per share that the company plans to use for general working capital. Aldila Inc. said it resumed golf shaft production at its China plant after an explosion forced it to close temporarily. Natural Alternatives International Inc. said it won’t be able to file its annual report because it requires additional time to complete its annual goodwill impairment testing. … Passport Restaurants Inc., an Oceanside holding company for restaurant concepts, filed a securities registration offering to raise up to $12.7 million.


Send news of San Diego-based public companies to Mike Allen via e-mail at

mallen@sdbj.com

. He can be reached at (858) 277-6359.

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