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European woes lose Qualcomm's chief lawyer his job?

Did Louis M. Lupin, general counsel for Qualcomm, jump? or was he pushed? It's a good question! Chip maker Qualcomm is famous for two things: its monopoly position in CDMA mobile wireless, and its fearsome trigger finger when it comes to sueing.

There's some anxiety about who might be the next target, because the legal giant has taken a few wounds recently. There's the Broadcom lawsuit, and the battle with Nokia, just for the latest two. Is this going to madden the corporation? Will it go for critics?

So there's some caution in judging. According to the New York Times, it was a bit of both:  Lawyer Quits Qualcomm Job as Legal Caseload Mount, wrote Matt Richtel, quoting Paul Sagawa, an industry analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Company:

He said the string of legal setbacks may have contributed to Mr. Lupin’s departure, despite the company’s statement that the decision was personal. "I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a mutual parting of the ways," he said.

Qualcomm Inc., a maker of chips used in cell phones, said Monday its general counsel resigned less than a week after the company suffered a legal setback in one of its patent dispute cases with rival Broadcom Corp.

- but no causal link, presumably, implied. Or maybe, it was?

CNN Money restricted its reporting to a flat reprint of the official press release - which concentrates mostly on telling the world how impressive the locum tenens, recently appointed VP Carol Lam, is (while they find someone else to replace Lupin).

Slightly less cautious in drawing implications was Reuters, where the story remarked that "Shares in Qualcomm, which also faces a U.S. government ban on importing some wireless phones using its chips, rose more than 4 percent after the news." Reuters reporter Sinead Carew quoted Oppenheimer analyst Lawrence Harris as saying that Lupin "had provided years of excellent service since he joined Qualcomm as senior legal counsel in 1995, but investors were hopeful that a change could help solve Qualcomm's legal woes."

"The company did experience a few setbacks last week ... the timing is probably indicative," said Harris. "When you have change in management, sometimes you have the opportunity to bring in some new perspective."