BlackBerry wins $815m in overpaid royalties to Qualcomm

Qualcomm has faced charges of excessive royalty rates by regulators as well as other companies. Apple filed a lawsuit in January in a US federal court in California against Qualcomm, objecting, among other things, to the chip company charging a royalty on the selling price of phones rather than on the value of the specific baseband chipset supplied for the iPhone.

The chip company has also run afoul of regulators. It was fined in December by South Korea’s antitrust regulator for violating antitrust laws. By January, the US Federal Trade Commission accused it in a lawsuit of forcing phone makers into accepting unfair licensing terms while giving Apple a break in exchange for exclusivity.

The dispute between BlackBerry and Qualcomm appears to have ended amicably with BlackBerry CEO John Chen saying the two companies continue to be “valued technology partners”. Chen said he looked forward to collaborating with Qualcomm in security for application-specific integrated circuits and technology for automotive applications, markets BlackBerry has entered after stopping making phones to focus on software.

Qualcomm had earlier described BlackBerry’s claims for “return of the alleged overpayment” as without merit. The chip company said on Wednesday it does not agree with the decision but it is binding and not appealable. The arbitration decision was limited to prepayment provisions that were unique to BlackBerry’s license agreement with Qualcomm and has no impact on agreements with any other licensee, it added.

A final award to BlackBerry, including interest and reasonable lawyers fees is scheduled to be issued 30 May. The binding arbitration hearing was held in San Diego, California, from 27 February to 3 March, according to a statement from BlackBerry.