Qualcomm to refund BlackBerry US$815 million in royalties
SAN FRANCISCO: US mobile chip giant Qualcomm is to refund BlackBerry US$ 814.9 million in royalties overpaid by the Canadian company, according to a tentative arbitration award.
A final award expected to include interest and legal fees will be determined in late May at a hearing in Southern California where the arbitration took place.
“BlackBerry and Qualcomm have along standing relationship and continue to be valued technology partners,” BlackBerry chief executive John Chen said in a release.
“We are pleased the arbitration panel ruled in our favour and look forward to collaborating with Qualcomm.”
Shares in BlackBerry, which has largely exited the mobile handset business in favour of software and services, jumped 16.9 per cent to nine dollars in trading on the Nasdaq exchange after the arbitration award was announced.
Qualcomm said in a separate release that it does not agree with the decision, but that it is binding and can not be appealed.
The chip maker contended that the arbitration regarded contractual provisions unique to BlackBerry and ‘ has no impact’ on licensing agreements with other companies.
In a legal filing late Monday, Qualcomm denied the charges made by Apple in a lawsuit filed in January, while accusing Apple of failing to negotiate in good faith on patent royalties.
Apple’s complaint argued that Qualcomm abused its market power to demand unfair royalties, echoing charges by US antitrust regulators and authorities around the world.
But Qualcomm responded that Apple was abusing its position in the smartphone market to reduce the royalties it pays for technologies contributing to the success of the iPhone. — AFP