Arm-Qualcomm Scheduling Order Sets September 2024 Jury Trial Date

U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika for Delaware signed a scheduling order Monday (docket 1:22-cv-01146) directing plaintiff Arm and defendant Qualcomm to submit by Jan. 13 their initial disclosures to begin fact discovery in Arm’s Aug. 31 breach of contract and trademark infringement complaint against Qualcomm and Qualcomm's Oct. 26 countersuit against Arm. The schedule sets fact discovery to be completed by October 2023, but a five-day jury trial is not to begin until Sept. 23, 2024.

Qualcomm spent more than $1 billion to buy Nuvia, a startup led by former Apple and Google engineers that licensed Arm technologies to develop high-performance processor cores for semiconductor chips, said Arm’s complaint. “In the process, Qualcomm caused Nuvia to breach its Arm licenses, leading Arm to terminate those licenses, in turn requiring Qualcomm and Nuvia to stop using and destroy any Arm-based technology developed under the licenses,” the complaint said.

“Undeterred," Qualcomm and Nuvia "have continued working on Nuvia’s implementation of Arm architecture in violation of Arm’s rights as the creator and licensor of its technology,” alleged Arm. Arm also alleges Qualcomm further intends to use Arm’s trademarks to advertise and sell the resulting products in the U.S., even though those products are unlicensed. Arm seeks an order requiring Qualcomm and Nuvia to stop using and to destroy the relevant Nuvia technology and to stop their allegedly improper use of Arm’s trademarks.

Qualcomm's redacted Sept. 30 counterclaims argue Arm's allegations have "no legal or contractual basis" because Qualcomm maintains its own Arm licenses. Arm's lawsuit "makes clear to the marketplace that it will act recklessly and opportunistically, threatening the development of new and innovative products as a negotiating tactic, not because it has valid license and trademark claims," said Qualcomm's countersuit.

Against that contentious backdrop, the parties have determined after discussion “that the matter cannot be resolved at this juncture by settlement, voluntary mediation, or binding arbitration,” said Monday’s scheduling order.