The judge A William Q Hayes of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in San Diego has dismissed a request by Broadcom Corp. to declare some of Qualcomm Inc.'s patents on wireless chips "exhausted and unenforceable." Broadcom had sued Qualcomm in October accusing its rival of improperly using its wireless-technology patents to suppress competition. The judge ruled that Broadcom failed to identify the specific patents and called alleged injuries against the company "speculative."