The next chapter in the Arm–Qualcomm legal wrangle will be heard in the Court of Appeal.
The trial court’s final ruling has indeed been issued, after more than three years of proceedings. It is favorable to Qualcomm, in line with the verdict handed down at the end of 2024.
At the heart of the dispute is Nuvia. This company had developed a server-focused system-on-chip based on cores that partially exploited Arm’s architecture. Qualcomm had acquired it in 2021, for about $1.4 billion.
In 2022, Arm had sued Qualcomm for, among other things, failing to negotiate a new license after acquiring Nuvia. According to the British firm, the original license did not authorize Qualcomm to exploit the technologies Nuvia had developed up to the acquisition, nor to direct them from the datacenter toward consumer devices.
A verdict highly favorable to Qualcomm in late 2024…
Asked to determine whether Qualcomm had breached the terms of Nuvia’s license, the jury in December 2024 found that it had not. They also held that Qualcomm’s CPUs incorporating elements derived from the Nuvia acquisition fell under the license agreement signed by Qualcomm, and not the one signed by Nuvia.
The jurors, however, had not reached a consensus on whether Nuvia itself had breached the terms of its own license with Arm.
In this context (two points in Qualcomm’s favor, one unresolved), both sides filed appeals. Arm sought a new trial or a ruling on the three claims as a matter of rights. Qualcomm sought a judgment on the claim that remained unresolved by the jury as a matter of law.
… and a final ruling that is even more definitive
The showdown had notably revolved around the question of trade secrets. Qualcomm argued that Arm had not destroyed certain confidential information that Nuvia had entrusted to it under the license at issue, as well as under the agreement permitting Arm to acquire “off‑the‑shelf” cores.
Arm contended that part of the information cited was not confidential. It also highlighted the absence of evidence that the confidential documents were actually exploited; and the lack of a destruction request after the license agreement ended.
The court rejected Arm’s requests. Its final ruling, issued this week, confirms the December 2024 verdict and eliminates the last remaining grievance. Consequently, Arm has appealed.
Arm had at one time threatened Qualcomm with revoking its architectural license (the right to use the instruction set to design its own processor cores). It abandoned that route a few weeks after the verdict.
