BlackBerry has announced the end results of its arbitration with Qualcomm, and it would seem as though things have ended favorably for BlackBerry, to the tune of $940 million. Qualcomm has until the end of May 2017 to pay the balance. This is the end result of an interim decision made on April 12, and includes the amounts that were decided at that point, as well as any applicable interest, fees, and arbitration costs. The case between the two has been ongoing now for some time, but never escalated to the level of similar cases that Qualcomm has under its belt, such as its ongoing feud with Apple. The two have been working together during the negotiations that led to today’s decision, and will continue to do so. Presumably, this marks the reaching of a favorable agreement, and the dispute between Qualcomm and BlackBerry is over.
The case originally started out when BlackBerry’s frustrations over its supply contracts with Qualcomm came to a boiling point and the two companies decided to rework things. BlackBerry had paid out decent rates to Qualcomm under a fixed agreement, but somewhere around 2010, the company’s fortunes hit a rough patch in the face of stiff competition from Android and iOS devices. BlackBerry’s sales wound up not being quite enough to justify the amount that they were paying to Qualcomm in licensing royalties. Once the agreement sank and became debatable, Blackberry aired its grievances, and the two began negotiations to rework the agreement, as well as looking into the possibility of a refund type of deal. Leading to today’s arbitrary decision.
Qualcomm is currently embroiled in multiple court battles with other companies and with regulatory authorities around the world. Standing accused of anti-competitive practices and unfair contracts in most cases. It is unclear whether the precedent set in this case will have any bearing on those other cases, although this is at least one legal matter out of the way for the company. Currently, two of the biggest cases for Qualcomm are happening right in its own backyard, the US; it’s currently in the midst of a pitched legal battle with Apple over contracts, and is being investigated by the US Federal Trade Commission over its licensing practices in general.