Arm Seeks New Trial Against Qualcomm in Legal Showdown!

Following a complex verdict on Friday, Arm has declared its intention to request a new trial for a portion of its licensing disagreement with Qualcomm. In the recent high-profile court decision, a jury found in favor of Qualcomm on two of the three issues but remained undecided on whether Nuvia, a company Qualcomm acquired, had violated its licensing agreement with Arm.

Arm expressed its disappointment in a statement, emphasizing the jury’s inability to resolve all the issues presented. “In light of the jury’s deadlock, we plan to pursue a retrial. Our primary goal has always been to safeguard Arm’s intellectual property and the extensive ecosystem we’ve cultivated with our partners for over three decades,” the statement said.

On the same day, Qualcomm emerged victorious in its legal confrontation with Arm concerning allegations of breaching licensing terms tied to its Snapdragon X processors. These processors utilize Oryon cores, initially developed by Nuvia for server processors under a separate licensing agreement with Arm.

Arm was particularly concerned about the use of Nuvia’s technology in consumer devices, arguing that the licensing terms Nuvia held did not automatically extend to Qualcomm following their acquisition in 2021 and needed to be renegotiated.

Qualcomm countered by claiming that its existing license for Arm’s instruction set architecture was sufficient to cover the technologies developed by its subsidiaries, including Nuvia. Despite Arm’s demands to halt using Nuvia’s designs, Qualcomm proceeded to release its Snapdragon X line of processors for personal computers.

During the trial, Gerard Williams III, the chief developer behind the Oryon cores and former Apple engineer, testified, stating that the design incorporated less than 1% of Arm’s technology. His testimony bolstered Qualcomm’s argument that the Snapdragon X processors were in compliance with its licensing agreements, thereby supporting the continued production and sales of the chips.

Although Qualcomm was absolved of some allegations, the jury could not reach a unanimous decision on whether Nuvia had failed to adhere to its licensing agreement with Arm. Should Arm proceed with a retrial, it will only revisit this specific dispute, as the other allegations have already been resolved.