Arm plans to appeal final ruling in Qualcomm dispute

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By Stephen Nellis

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Arm Holdings said on Tuesday it planned to appeal a judge’s ruling in a licensing dispute against Qualcomm that left the chipmaker’s jury victory intact.

Qualcomm secured a key win in U.S. federal court in Delaware last year, with a jury finding that central processor units made by its subsidiary Nuvia were properly licensed under an agreement with Arm.

The jury reached a verdict on two out of three counts, and deadlocked on the third count, which resulted in a mistrial.

Arm had asked Judge Maryellen Noreika to either throw out the verdict on the two counts where Qualcomm won, or have a new trial. The judge declined both of Arm’s requests.

“Arm remains confident in its position in its ongoing dispute with Qualcomm and will immediately file an appeal seeking to overturn the judgment,” Arm said in a statement.

Qualcomm said the decision affirmed its position that it did not breach its agreement with Arm.

“Our right to innovate prevailed in this case and we hope Arm will return to fair and competitive practices in dealing with the Arm ecosystem,” Ann Chaplin, Qualcomm’s general counsel, said in a statement.

Arm supplies Qualcomm and other chip firms such as Apple and Taiwan’s MediaTek with key technologies used in their chip designs.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Jamie Freed)