The United States International Trade Commission ruled on Thursday that certain cell phone chips manufactured by Qualcomm infringe on patents owned by Broadcom and can’t be imported into the country. Since those chips are used in many smartphones and other handheld devices, any new products that rely on the banned chips can’t be imported into the United States, either - which could be good news for Apple’s iPhone.

The Qualcomm chips that the ITC targeted are used for 3G wireless communication in handheld devices and cell phones. Any device that was already available for sale in the United States by June 7 was excluded from the ban, meaning that any new products based on Qualcomm’s 3G chips can’t be introduced into the country, effectively limiting the number of potential competitors to Apple’s Broadcom chip-based iPhone.

Qualcomm CEO Dr. Paul Jacobs commented "We believe the Commission has not afforded manufacturers and operators, who will bear the brunt of this order, an adequate opportunity to defend their interests... We will ask the White House to veto this decision and avoid turning back the clock on the tremendous gains that have been achieved in mobile broadband communications, disaster preparedness and emergency response."

Understandably, Broadcom had a different view on the ruling. "We are very pleased with the ITC’s ruling, and gratified that the Commissioners followed the letter and spirit of their charter, which is the protection of American products from unfair trade practices," said Broadcom Senior Vice President and General Counsel David Dull. "In this case, Qualcomm and its customers have been importing products that use Broadcom’s valuable intellectual property without permission."

Companies that have been scrambling since Apple announced the iPhone may now find that they have to go back to the drawing board and redesign their new products around Broadcom’s chips instead of Qualcomm’s, giving Apple’s combination iPod and smartphone a long head start.

The ITC ruling is now off to the White House for final approval or rejection, which could take up to 60 days. Broadcom and Qualcomm are likely to enter into negotiations before then, and could potentially strike a deal negating the need for the ITC chip ban. Until then, companies like Motorola and Samsung that rely heavily on Qualcomm chips are going to have a hard time coming up with new products that can compete with the iPhone.