The San Diego-based company, ensnarled in patent litigation with Nokia and competitor Broadcom, suffered several litigation setbacks earlier this year.
In June, the International Trade Commission ordered an import ban on newer models of phones that run on Qualcomm chips because the chips infringe a Broadcom patent. The ruling, which threatened to prevent phone companies from introducing new models for the holiday season, was put on hold earlier this month by an appeals court.
In August, a federal judge ruled that Qualcomm had intentionally infringed Broadcom's patents and ordered Qualcomm to pay twice as much in damages as originally ordered.
Another court ruled that Qualcomm had withheld evidence in a separate lawsuit and that former company attorneys could face possible fines or sanctions for what that judge called an "organized program of litigation misconduct."
Earlier this month, the ITC said that it would investigate patent-infringement claims by Nokia against Qualcomm.
Lou Lupin resigned as general counsel in August for what Qualcomm called "personal" reasons.
Rosenberg joins Qualcomm after working at Apple for less than a year. He joined Apple in November after its former general counsel, Nancy Heinen, left in May 2006. She was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission for her alleged role in improperly backdating stock-option grants.
Rosenberg, who will join Qualcomm on Oct. 8, was previously general counsel at International Business Machines.
