The US International Trade Commission (ITC) today issued a ban on the import and sale of all new 3G phones using Qualcomm’s chips. The ban comes as a result of a patent dispute with Broadcom, which Qualcomm recently lost. This ban will halt the release of all new CDMA models as well as any WCDMA or HSDPA models that use Qualcomm chips. Carriers will be able to continue selling previously launched models, including replenishing stock of them. Updated: Until this dispute is settled, carriers will only be able to launch new phone models that have already been imported into the US in final versions ready for sale. Import of new phone models is banned, however, Cingular could launch new 3G phones that don’t use Qualcomm’s chips, such as those from Nokia. Phones such as the Samsung a727, which has been announced but not yet sold, can only be launched if final production batches were imported before the ban.