Qualcomm scores a decisive but decidedly unexciting victory in its legal battle with Arm. Following a 5-day trial, a jury in Delaware sided with Qualcomm and awarded the company $2. Actually, it’s $1 + $1 since Qualcomm won on two separate issues. No, we didn’t forget to add “billion” or even “million”. Two dollars.
Here is what this most recent kerfuffle is about. First, the jury found that Arm had breached its obligations related to providing software patches and tools for its licensed designs.
Second, it found that Arm had interfered with negotiations between Qualcomm and Meta when it leaked to Bloomberg News that it will drop Qualcomm’s license. So, for each of these cases, the jury awarded $1. The jury did side with Arm on five other issues, however.
This outcome can still mean big bucks for Qualcomm, despite getting only a nominal sum of $2 now. Winning on these two issues gives the company ammunition for the next round of its prolonged legal fight with Arm.
Next up, the two companies will go in front of US District Judge Maryellen Noreika to argue over several issues. There is a possibility that Qualcomm will be allowed to stop paying royalties to Arm for 5 years – these royalties over that much time are valued at billions of dollars. This is a penalty written in the licensing agreement between the two companies. However, Arm argues that it is unenforceable.
Whatever the outcome, this trial is likely to go through appeals, so it won’t be over anytime soon.
“We are gratified that the jury found Arm breached its long-standing Architectural License Agreement (ALA) with Qualcomm, failed to honor its commitments and intentionally acted to disrupt Qualcomm's businesses," Qualcomm wrote in a statement.
“Despite Qualcomm’s pursuit of this case in an attempt to deprive Arm of billions of dollars under our license agreements, the jury’s verdict confirms that Arm operated in good faith under its technology license agreement and its award of only two dollars confirms the merit of Arm’s arguments in the case,” Arm retorted in its own statement.