Arm sues Qualcomm and Nuvia for breach of licensing agreement

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Last year, Qualcomm announced that it had acquired the start-up NUVIA for $1.4 billion, hoping to provide Windows PC with stronger performance and higher efficiency with the help of its team and design of the Arm core. Qualcomm originally planned to provide partners with samples of the new chip designed by the NUVIA team next year, and related consumer laptops will be released in early 2024.

Arm recently announced that it has filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm and its subsidiary NUVIA in the U.S. District Court of Delaware, accusing the other party of violating the agreement and infringing its trademark rights. Arm requires Qualcomm to destroy the designs developed by Nuvia under the Arm licensing agreement and seek reasonable compensation.
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Arm issued the following statement regarding the lawsuit:

“Arm is filing this claim to protect Arm, our partners, and the unparalleled ecosystem we have built together. Arm and its partners have invested billions of dollars to create industry-leading intellectual property. Because Qualcomm attempted to transfer Nuvia licenses without Arm’s consent, which is a standard restriction under Arm’s license agreements, Nuvia’s licenses terminated in March 2022. Before and after that date, Arm made multiple good faith efforts to seek a resolution. In contrast, Qualcomm has breached the terms of the Arm license agreement by continuing development under the terminated licenses. Arm was left with no choice other than to bring this claim against Qualcomm and Nuvia to protect our IP, our business, and to ensure customers are able to access valid Arm-based products.”

Arm granted Nuvia a Technology License Agreement (TLA) and Architecture License Agreement (ALA) in the fall of 2019, allowing Nuvia to modify its existing cores and design custom cores or architectures based on the Arm architecture. Under the terms of these agreements, it is not transferable to third parties without Arm’s permission. In addition, the terms of the agreement between Qualcomm and Arm do not cover the development of products based on Arm technology by third parties under different Arm licenses, such as the custom Phoenix core architecture developed by the Nuvia team.

Qualcomm attempted to transfer NUVIA’s Arm license to a newly formed entity without Arm’s consent in March last year, a standard restriction under the Arm license agreement. Arm terminated NUVIA’s Arm license in March 2022 due to an inability to reach an agreement with Qualcomm. Arm said a solution was sought several times before and after the deadline, however, Qualcomm continued to develop even after terminating the license, violating the terms of the Arm license agreement, so it could only protect intellectual property rights through litigation.

Qualcomm and NUVIA have yet to respond to Arm’s allegations, and if an agreement cannot be reached, the legal process could drag on for several years. The two sides are likely to argue endlessly in the media and court and have a great chance of influencing Qualcomm’s next chip development plan.

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